Blair Thorpe and the Mustangs will play in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1096 (photo by Doug Fejer).

The start of every season is met with, among other things, expectations. Coaches, athletes, media and fans try to peer into the future, guessing what awaits in the weeks and months ahead. How many victories will a team collect this year? Which players will win individual awards?

When the SMU women’s soccer team gathered in August for the start of preseason practice, the Mustangs could be forgiven if their confidence wavered a little. After all, they were coming off a 2015 season in which they had posted a modest 5-10-3 record. The last time the Ponies went to the NCAA tournament — 2006 — most of the players on the current roster were in elementary school.

But the team had a different look. Head coach Chris Petrucelli and his staff added 10 freshmen to the roster, many of whom arrived with considerable accolades in high school and club soccer. The infusion of talent, as well as the improvement and maturity of the returning players had some Mustangs, including senior defender Taylor Jackson and junior midfielder Claire Oates, confident the team could reach the NCAA tournament — the sport’s ultimate stage. Petrucelli, a two-time National Coach of the Year award winner who also has a national championship on his résumé, said he wasn’t quite so sure.

“I thought it would be hard for us” to reach the NCAA tournament, he said. “You have got to remember, we only won five games last year. So to expect to win 13 games and be in the NCAAs would have been a little bit of a stretch. I was hopeful, of course, but if you had asked me before the season, I would have said that it would be tough for us.”

Petrucelli’s hope, and the confidence of Oates and Jackson, were rewarded. The Mustangs are 13-6-2 and reached the final of the American Athletic Conference tournament. Earlier this week, they learned they will face the Oklahoma Sooners Friday night in Norman in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Junior midfielder Claire Oates is tied for the team lead with 10 goals — including six game-winners — in 2016 (photo by Doug Fejer).

The Sooners boast an identical 13-6-2 record and are ranked No. 25 in the current National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll. The Mustangs are among the teams receiving votes.

That’s where the similarities end. The Mustangs’ offense, led by redshirt sophomore forward Vanessa Valadez (nine goals, eight assists for 26 points), freshman forward Allie Thornton (10 goals, three assists for 23 points) and Oates (20 points on 10 goals), have scored 48 goals this year — 14 more than the Sooners’ 34. Oates and Thornton are the first pair of SMU teammates to score at least 10 goals in the same season since 2001, when Kim Harvey and her sister, Sarah Harvey, did the same. Of Oates’ 10 goals this season, six have been game-winning scores, which ties her for ninth in the nation and second in the AAC.

On the other hand, Oklahoma has been a little stingier on the other end of the field, surrendering 0.92 goals per game, compared to the 1.02 given up by the Mustangs.

“More than anything, Oklahoma plays with a team mentality — they defend with all 11,” Petrucelli said. “Their first thought is to keep the ball out of the net, where our first thought is to get the ball and keep the ball and try to get forward.”

“They’re a team that works really hard,” Oates said of the Sooners. “They press high, they press to every ball, so we need to look to play quick, and be ready to come out strong, right from the start.”

SMU faces a tough task cracking the Sooners’ defense, and playing on the road always is tough, but Jackson said the Mustangs are up to the challenge.

“I think the biggest thing is that we know who we are, and we know what our team is capable of,” she said. “OU has had a lot of tournament history, and props to them for that, but if we play at home, if we play on the road … we’re going to go out and play our game, our way.”

In reaching the AAC tournament final last week in Storrs, Connecticut, the Mustangs played three games in five days. Petrucelli said he and his staff have been very aware of the risk of fatigue, and said the Ponies have bounced back well.

“I’ve been concerned about it, but we gave them a couple of days off, and they looked really good (in practice),” he said. “They’re fresh, they’re moving fast, and some of them are even a little more healthy than they were last week, so I think we’re in a pretty good spot.”

The Mustangs are making their 13th appearance in the NCAA tournament, in which the Ponies have an all-time record of 9-10-2. SMU is 7-4-1 all-time in the tournament’s first round.

The Mustangs are 5-2-1 all-time against Oklahoma, including a 2-1-1 record in games played in Norman. SMU won the last two meetings between the schools, beating OU, 1-0, in 2011, and 3-0 the following season.

When the pairings were announced this week, Petrucelli said although his team more than doubled its total of victories from last season, he didn’t want the Mustangs to be one of those teams that was satisfied simply with qualifying for the tournament.

“The first thing we talked about is that this is a great accomplishment, but the teams that get beat in the first round are the ones who say, ‘man, it’s really cool that we got here,’” he said. “So our attitude has to be that we’re going to win. I think, when I hear them talk among themselves, they’re looking for more. Again, I think (the coaches’) job is to let them run with it.”

For their parts, Oates and Jackson echoed their coach’s confidence, that merely reaching the NCAA tournament is not enough.

“We have had this goal since the beginning of the season, so we want to go further than just getting in to the tournament,” Oates said. “I’m not really worried about that with this group. We want to go as far as we can.”

One of five seniors who will play in her first NCAA tournament game Friday in this, her final season at SMU, Jackson said that the Mustangs’ lack of previous NCAA tournament experience might actually be a benefit.

“I think sometimes, people might see it as a negative to not have the experience in the postseason,” Jackson said. “But in a way, it’s also a positive for us. Everyone is so excited, everyone is so ready. Everyone is ready to not just play the game, but attack the game. Coach (Petrucelli) told us that a lot of times, these games are decided by who wants to win more, and I think our team is going to come out fresh, excited, ready to play, ready to win.”