A new-look Bermuda Under-20 women’s team have been urged to make the most of an opportunity to further their development against visiting NCAA Division II side Southern New Hampshire University.

Bermuda have been forced to make several changes from the squad that played in the Concacaf Caribbean Women’s Under-20 Qualifiers last month because of the unavailability of those players involved in the Under-17 Caribbean qualifiers in St Lucia and overseas studies.

Maurice Lowe, the Bermuda Football Association technical development director, is confident that the new faces will make the most of their opportunity.

“We have student athletes and in August a lot of them have already returned to their schools and are getting ready for their college seasons while our under-17 girls leave this weekend,” Lowe said.

“But we make no excuses for that and we will put together the best team we can and be competitive.

“That’s the beauty of having a continuous academy and we will just use the academy structure and move players around as necessary.

“When people are unavailable it provides opportunities for other players and for every player it’s always an opportunity to do your best and put yourself in further contention.

“We can’t guarantee results, but we will definitely put our best foot forward.”

Bermuda play against the visiting side in three friendly matches over the next five days.

The first match takes place today, the second on Thursday and the third on Saturday. All of the games will be held at North Field, National Sports Centre, with kick off at 7pm.

The venture is a collaboration between the Bermuda Tourism Authority, National Sports Centre and the BFA.

“This is a good way for us [the BTA)] to sell Bermuda through sport highlighting our National Stadium and also the Bermuda experience; getting them to do different things on the island during the summer time,” said Daniel Johnson, the BTA sports development manager.

“It’s a good way for us to introduce new quality teams to the island and also getting our women’s national team to keep fresh coming off a World Cup qualifying campaign.”

The friendlies form part of Southern New Hampshire University’s pre-season preparations.

“This will be an experience, not just football-wise, but team building-wise as well,” Elie Monteiro, their head coach, said.

“As beautiful as this place is, and as gorgeous as the scenery is, we had to sort of remind them that we are here to get some work done as well. We want to enjoy the culture and everything but also get some work done for sure.”

Southern New Hampshire University compiled an overall record of 10-8-1 last season and reached the Northeast-10 Championship quarter-finals, losing 2-1 to Adelphi University, New York, in double overtime.