By the time classes start on the Manoa campus later this month, the University of Hawaii soccer team figures to be well tested.

The Rainbow Wahine departed Saturday for a three-match road trip in Arizona, starting with an exhibition against Northern Arizona today in Flagstaff.

The Wahine won’t have much time to unpack nor adjust to the nearly-7,000-foot elevation in Flagstaff before taking the field for today’s match. Then again, the itinerary doesn’t allow much room for dwelling on the challenges either.

“That should be interesting,” UH senior Emily Cottrell said after Friday’s practice in Manoa. “But it also gives us a chance to not even think about the fact that we’re going to be at elevation. We’re just going to get there, go to sleep, wake up and prepare for the game.”

This week’s road trip is the first of five scheduled for the regular season. Following today’s exhibition, the Wahine will officially kick off UH’s 2022-23 athletic calendar on Thursday against Grand Canyon, the defending Western Athletic Conference champion and preseason favorite, in Phoenix. They’ll close a trip with a match at Arizona State a week from today.

“We cannot replicate the altitude. We’d have to go to the top of Mauna Kea — that’s not happening,” UH associate head coach Marc Fournier said of today’s match at NAU. “The idea is to prepare mentally.

“Every opponent traveling to Hawaii has to deal with adversity. It’s our turn going back, but we’re used to it.”

The trip will be a homecoming for graduate student goalkeeper Lauren Marquez, a product of Deer Valley High School in Glendale. Marquez is slated to start today’s game and will share time with junior transfer Sophie Augustin.

The exhibition will give the Wahine a chance to test themselves against an opponent after 10 days of training camp. They return seven starters — led by All-Big West second-team picks Kelci Sumida and Eliza Ammendolia — and the process of building on-field chemistry reaches another phase in today’s match.

“I think that’s the main reason for (the exhibition),” Ammendolia said. “Trying to figure out and trust that person and find out their tendencies, what they do well, what they don’t do well, how you’re going to combine with them. Especially being a midfielder, I need to combine with my front three and I think these games will bring that out.”

Cottrell is among the returnees in front of Marquez, and freshman defender Zoe Park is slated to make her UH debut in today’s starting lineup against NAU, which lost an exhibition with Arizona 1-0 on Aug. 7.

“It’s exciting for the girls. They had a little taste (Friday) morning about who is going to start on Sunday,” Fournier said.

“So far the dynamic has been very good. The seniors are displaying leadership, the captains are taking control and the freshmen are right in the fold. … It’s an encouraging, competitive environment.”