The men’s soccer team will face a pair of tough non-conference opponents this weekend as they travel to the Dartmouth Classic in Hanover, N.H.

Friday, they face Colgate (2-0-2), which was picked first in the Patriot League preseason poll. After a day of rest, they then battle Farleigh Dickinson (2-1) on Sunday, which, despite its good start, was picked eighth in the Northeast Conference.

Although the Elis picked up an impressive opening game victory against Maine last Sunday, the team got off to a shaky start, almost giving up a goal in the first few minutes and appearing nervous during the first 15 minutes of the game.

The Bulldogs’ two weekend opponents have combined to score 15 goals so far this season through seven combined games.

Captain and defender Alex Guzinski ’09 acknowledged that getting off to a strong start will be crucial to his team’s success this weekend.

“A lot of that is mental,” he said. “You can’t go into games flatfooted. They’re going to come at you. We had a little trouble with that last year, so that’s something we need to improve on.”