For the No. 18 Arizona women's soccer team, it's not so much that they are playing Missouri in their first game of the season - it's simply getting to play.
They get that chance tonight at 6 in their home opener against the Tigers at Murphy Stadium and at 1 p.m. tomorrow against Pepperdine.
"We are going to really see what kind of team we are," said sophomore goalkeeper McCall Smith.
The Wildcats return 10 players who started 10 or more games last season and have a team loaded with experience, with six seniors, one junior, eight sophomores and eight freshmen.
On offense, the Wildcats have seniors Kamaya Damwijk and Mallory Miller, who scored six and five goals apiece last season, good for second and third on the team, respectively. Defensively, the team returns sophomores Kaity Heath and Claire Bodiya, who both started at least 19 games in 2004.
Arizona also brings back Smith, who will try to outdo her brilliant freshman campaign (0.47 goals allowed per game).
"It's going to be interesting to see us play Missouri because we weren't nearly the team that we are now," said senior midfielder Nikki David.
The Tigers return six starters, including their top goal scorer in senior Jennifer Nobis, a second-team All-Big-12 performer as a junior.
They finished in sixth place (5-5) in a tough conference last season, going 9-10-1 overall.
The only time the Wildcats and Tigers have met was on Sept. 7, 2003, when the Wildcats lost 3-1 in Colombia, Mo.
David said the game will show not only where the team is at this season but also how far they have come since 2003, when they won only six games.
Head coach Dan Tobias, kicking off his third season with the Wildcats, said he wants to see his team do the simple things right.
"We're looking for a good performance. We want to keep our defensive shape and not give up chances in our own box," he said. "No second chances."
After tonight's game, the Wildcats will travel to Malibu, Calif., to take on Pepperdine, a team that handed them their only home loss last season, 1-0, on Oct. 1.
After a down year last year, when the Waves finished seventh in the competitive West Coast Conference, Pepperdine received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Pepperdine lost 1-0 in the first round to UCLA, the eventual national runner-up, followed by six seniors in the offseason. Eight starters return, including first-team All-WCC forward Megan Woods.
"Playing Pepperdine, and how we got robbed last year on our home field, we felt like we deserved to win," said David.