For the second year in a row Kennedy lost a big, talented class in girls soccer, but the Cougars have some talented young players and a strong core of upperclassmen that are looking to rebound.

Last year the Cougars reached state and this year's team has the same goal.

“We lost a lot of people last year so we are going to have a really young team this year,” said senior Shauna Happel, who was named second team all-state last season. “We still have a lot of experienced players though, so once we get the new players in and we start gelling together, I think we will be very competitive this season.”

One of the biggest things that last year's seniors provided was leadership. But now a new group of seniors will have to take the reins. “From a leadership standpoint, we lost a lot of strong leaders last year, so this years seniors are going to have to step up into those,” Happel said.

The Cougars also will need to fill in the holes on the back-line.

“I think our defenders were a really big part of the team last year so it will be tough to fill those spots, but we have some new people coming in so we should be okay,” said senior Katie Helmlinger.

With so much roster turnover, the Cougars still are trying to find out what their strengths are with just one week of practice gone from the young season.

“It is going to be really important for us to identify our talent and who is going to take over what role and then adapting our system,” Coach Homer Screws said. “We won’t play the same style of soccer that we played last year but we will adapt to a system of soccer that benefits our talent.”

The new style likely will be much more possession-based, centered on a strong defense.

“It is going to have to be really organized and maybe a little more defensive style. I’m not sure we have as many big guns from the free flowing attacking style that we played,” said Screws.

Although the Cougars still have some kinks to work out, the upperclassmen have already been impressed with what they have seen out of some of the young players.

“I have noticed a lot of freshmen stepping up,” said senior Liz Frerichs. “Most of them are are making an impact and working hard to earn their spot.”

If Kennedy can find some solid contributors out of its young players they feel they could very well find themselves once again knocking at the door of the state tournament.

“We are going to be a solid team,” Screws said. “We may not have a standout superstar, but I think we are going to have maybe a better team than we even had last year.”