HELENA, Mont. – The Carroll College women's soccer team begins regular-season play this weekend with three matches in four days in California's Bay Area.
 
The defending Cascade Conference Champions open the weekend Thursday with a true road game against Menlo College. Saturday, the Saints face the Master's College in a neutral-site game on Menlo's field and Sunday Carroll closes out the weekend with a game at NCAA DIII Mills College in Oakland.
 
"I think it is always exciting to open the season," head coach David Thorvilson said. "It is tough to start on the road, especially in the first week of class but we are excited to play someone other than teammates."
 
Menlo finished last season 8-7-5 and fell to Biola in the Golden State Athletic Conference semifinals and return leading scorer Danielle McCarthy.
 
"Menlo is a relatively new team in the GSAC and they are building a strong tradition quickly," Thovilson said. "The already have a good win over the College of Idaho last week and they will likely be one of the best teams in our conference this season."
 
The Master's finished 2015 with an 8-9-2 record and fell to Menlo in a shootout in the first round of the GSAC tournament to close out the season.
 
"The Master's has a strong program and a down year for the them last season but they had a great recruiting class this year and we expect them to be a very tough challenge," Thorvilson said. "We need to show up and represent our conference well against these GSAC teams."
 
Mills College finished 2015 season with just one win, and they have just five wins in the last 10 seasons but they have a new coach and hope to make strides this season.
 
"Mills is a little bit of a wild card," Thovilson said. "They have a new coach and we see them at the end of a tough road trip. We hope to have enough legs to go out there and compete."
 
The games at Menlo will be streamed live for free via the Menlo Stretch Internet Portal.