HOUSTON, TX – The Huskies officially kick off the regular season with the HBU Invitational Tournament beginning Thursday evening.

Following an exciting preseason, the Huskies will face the St. Thomas (Minn.) Tommies Thursday at 8 p.m., following the opening game of the round robin-style tournament between the UIW Cardinals and the Florida Atlantic Owls at 5:30 p.m. UIW will face St. Thomas at 5:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon followed by HBU vs Florida Atlantic at 8 p.m.

It will be a couple of firsts for the Huskies, as the men's soccer program has never played against the Tommies or the Burrowing Owls.

St. Thomas Tommies are coming off of the shortened 2020 season, their last season as a member of NCAA Division III, having played only four games, going 3-1 in those contests. They outscored their opponents 6-2 and more than doubled their opponents in shot attempts 70-26.

Florida Atlantic is coming off its first winning season since 2007, going 6-4-2, including four shutouts. The Owls set school records with fewest goals conceded (11) and lowest goals against average (0.92). They return all 11 starters from 2020, including All-Conference-USA performers Ivan Mykhailenko, Alonso Coello Camarero, Graeme Pratt, Daniel Skistad, and Vasilis Spinos.

Fellow WAC member UIW is coming off a 2-7 season in 2020 which saw the Cardinals get outscored 20-10. UIW returns lead goal scorer and total points leader season Eduardo Perez and top assist man Wilmar Aguilar.

The Huskies hit the road next week to take on SMU (9/2) and UIC (9/6) before returning to Sorrels Field to meet Huston-Tillotson (9/10) and Oral Roberts (9/12).