Led by a strong senior class, last year’s Tomahawk girls soccer team took the team to new heights, qualifying for their first-ever district tournament berth and winning more games in a season than any previous M-P squad.

But with the loss of their three leading scorers and veteran goalkeeper, the Tomahawks will have their work cut out for them to repeat that kind of success.

Coach Geoff Kittle is counting on experience on defense to lead them back.

While much of the defense began last season untested, four girls are back from that backfield that helped the team finish the regular season 7-0. The defense is led by all-league senior Katie Hughes and juniors Courtney Wear, Rachel Hamlin and Kayla Hanson.

Kittle also counting on two less familiar faces to step up defensively this year. Sophomore Kiley Thomason, who ran cross country last season, has looked good in early practice.

“She does a great job of winning the ball in the air,” Kittle said.

And replacing Skyler Peterson in the net will be sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Schoonover, who played a shut-out second half at Cascade last year.

“We’re going to focus first on defense and playing hard defensively,” Kittle said of the team’s plan for the early part of the calendar. “There’s quite a few girls who understand it but there are some that are still learning.”

But it’s only a tie game without a goal, so the team will also rely heavily on the few veterans returning to the offensive side of the ball.

Senior Leslie James scored a couple of goals last season and will likely be joined up front by Kiely Cordon, a three-year varsity player moving from the midfield to wing this year.

Helping to guide the ball through the midfield will be sophomore Krista Riozzi, who saw significant varsity playing time her freshman season.

There will be no easy games on this schedule. The Tomahawks kick off their season against the team that ended their last one, hosting Lake Stevens Sept. 9 with additional early home games against experienced Arlington (Sept. 11) and Everett teams (Sept. 18).

“Lake Stevens is going to be a pretty big rival for us,” Kittle said. “It’s the first game and we want to avenge our playoff loss. It’s going to be a physical game.”