Tim Champion is thrilled that his women’s soccer team starts the Atlantic 10 tournament against St. Bonaventure. And, even more so than that, Saint Louis University will be hosting the tournament on campus this year.

It’s not that the Bonnies are a pushover, since they have the same record as the Billikens in A-10 play at 6-4-1. Rather, it gives the Billikens more incentive to play hard against an unfamiliar team.

“I’d prefer that we play a team we haven’t played before,” said the head coach, who is in his fourth consecutive A-10 Tournament. “Hopefully the girls will come out and play harder if they don’t know the good and bad things about the other team.”

The game is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. tonight at Robert R. Hermann Stadium.

With a victory against Massachusetts Oct. 31, the Billikens clenched their spot as the No. 4 seed in the six-team tournament.

The Bonnies, who haven’t made it to the A-10 tournament since 1999, enter the match as the No. 5 seed.

St. Bonaventure was not part of the Bills’ conference schedule this year, but SLU played the Bonnies in the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Both times SLU came out victorious.

“I think we need to focus more on the game rather than on the fact that we haven’t played them this year,” junior Ashley Hayes said. “We can’t take them lightly even though we’ve won in the past.”

The other four teams that made it into the tournament are Charlotte, Dayton, Fordham and Duquesne. The Billikens played all of these teams in their regular season, yet their only win came against Duquesne.

“If we go on, we are going to have to face tough teams,” Hayes said. “We have the capabilities to win, we just need to try and not get down on nerves. It’s hard to play four games in three days, but it’s always nice to play in front of fans and have the home-field advantage.”

The Billikens won the A-10 tournament in its first two years in the conference in 2005 and 2006, but made an unexpected, early exit in 2007 against Dayton. Like this year, the team was ranked No. 4 heading into the first round and lost to the No. 5 team in double overtime. Champion said the team can avoid déj? vu this time around by staying solid defensively and getting quick goals.

The Bills enter the tournament with momentum this year, winning five of its last seven conference matches, and they are vying to join Dayton and Massachusetts as the lone A-10 programs to win three Atlantic 10 crowns.

Freshman Andrea Barklage, who is in her first postseason tournament, said the team needs to come out ready to play. “I’m nervous,” she said. “We are expected to do well.”

If the team wins tonight, it will advance to the semifinals tomorrow.