By: Dylan Matthias

We here at Dal Soccer Live have been counting down the days. And it’s finally here–the start of the AUS soccer season. Dalhousie and Acadia on Wickwire Field. Here’s hoping it doesn’t rain.

The storylines are there. The 1pm women’s game will be Amit Batra’s first game in charge of Acadia after leading MSVU to two nearly undefeated seasons. Rookies Charlotte Nutt and Daphne Wallace will be playing against one another, after having been teammates in Ottawa.

The women’s game should be fairly exciting. Dal have to be the favourites, but Acadia’s women’s program is stronger than its men’s in soccer and this game isn’t a foregone conclusion. In addition, lost points for Dal mean lost ground against CBU in the standings.

The men’s game is a smoother start for a Dal team that looked only okay (and like they missed injured Hamzeh Afani) in their friendly against SMU. Acadia’s men’s program has been growing slowly since it was reinstated in 2006. Acadia are likely to be a bit better than last year, but unlikely to be a real threat to Dal.

The major trick for Dal will be scoring without Michel Daoust and Afani (who hurt his knee playing NSSL soccer this summer and is out for the season). It will fall to rookie Tyler Lewars and probably Wes Hawley and/or the erratic Julian Perrotta to score.

Here are our Dal Soccer Live (highly unofficial and likely to be proven wrong tomorrow) projected starting line-ups for both men and women:

Women:

———–Richard——-Huck———-
—————-K. MacDonald————————
—-Blodgett———————McKilligan—–
—————–Wallace————————
–McLean—–C. MacDonald—–Henry—-Santilli-

Santilli started at full back against SMU and looked comfortable. Expect Kate MacDonald to drop back a fair bit and pick up the ball. Blodgett may not start and Huck, Kate MacDonald, and Santilli may rotate from what we have. Expect Taryn McKenna in goal.

Men:

———Perrotta———Lewars———
—-Negulic—Hagen—-Haughn——Beck–
—Hooey—–Weymann—-Rogers—Mannix–

Lewars is a small but strong forward, as is Perrotta, but Nearing started with them against SMU before bringing in Hawley. Hooey played well enough to earn a start in exhibition play, and Dal don’t have many other options at fullback. Ur will very likely start in goal.

We’ll try and bring you opponents projected line-ups throughout the year, but without confirmed rosters, we’d just be making ourselves look even more foolish than projected line-ups will inevitably make us look come game time.

See you at Wickwire Field.

–Dylan Matthias is the incoming sports editor at the Dalhousie Gazette. He runs Dal Soccer Live on the side to provide more in-depth coverage of AUS and ACAA soccer. He has been a Toronto FC fan since Danny Dichio scored the team’s first ever goal. It showed him the magic of soccer.