BRUNSWICK

The 2018 girls high school soccer season gets underway today with high hopes and expectations for some of the local teams.

Looking to avenge last year’s Class A North semifinal 3-0 loss to Bangor, Brunswick is eager to take the next step, while teams like Mt. Ararat and Lisbon look to continue to move forward with young programs.

Defending Class D state champions Richmond, winners of the last eight regional titles, is hoping to once again make another deep postseason run with a lot of returning athletes.

Morse and Freeport have new head coaches, with many years of soccer experience, on the sidelines this fall.

Brunswick

When looking back at the 2017 Brunswick girls soccer roster, the 13-1 Dragons listed one senior. Captain Maeve Arthur graduated, but a solid crop of returning athletes gives Brunswick something to look forward to this fall.

After finishing as the second seed in the Class A North region, Brunswick blanked Lewiston, 6-0, in the quarterfinals before losing to Bangor at home.

Coach Martyn Davison likes his roster and is expecting big things from his athletes.

“We have an outstanding team spirit and togetherness so far this preseason,” Davison said. “I’ve been so impressed by how the emphasis is on the collective rather than the individual effort and playing as a team.”

Returning for Davison this year are senior co-captains Beth Labbe, Mikaela Aschbrenner and Rian Sachs. Labbe and her “solid technique” returns to the net after posting nine shutouts during the regular season last year. Aschbrenner and Sachs help hold down the defense with strong, physical covering skills.

Senior Emily Larochelle also returns on defense and provides Davison with someone he can turn to for long crosses with her “great long shot.”

Anna Kousky is back as the striker. The two-footed striker tallied 11 goals and seven assists last season and Davison likes the senior’s “blistering pace and skill” on the field. Seniors Marley Groat (MF) and Bailey Hartill add speed and scoring opportunities for the Dragons.

Junior captain Isabella Banks joins her sister Emma in the midfield. Both bring good passing and technical skills to the field, according to their coach.

Senior Charlotte MacMillan returns after missing last season, and Davison also expects her to be a big addition to the squad.

Familiar foes in Camden Hills, Bangor, Mt. Ararat and Oxford Hills all figure to compete with Brunswick in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference. The Dragons open at home today against Mt. Blue (3:30 p.m.). After hosting Edward Little on Tuesday and Lewiston (Sept. 7), the team travels to Topsham to play Mt. Ararat at Riverside Field at the Foreside Recreational Facility on Sept. 11.

Other notable games on the slate are Bangor at home on Sept. 13, at Morse on Sept. 18 and at Camden Hills on Oct. 9.

Morse

New head coach Branden Noltkamper is excited about the upcoming season for his Shipbuilders and plans to continue the success of the program. He replaces longtime coach Steve Boyce, who compiled a 94-33-13 (including playoffs) during his tenure.

“This has been a solid program, and I am excited to be part of it,” Noltkamper said.

Last year’s team ended the regular season on a 6-0-1 run, finishing fifth in the Class B South Heal Points before falling to York, 2-0, in the quarterfinals. Although that was last year, the ’Builders are eager to build off that and have relatively high expectations for themselves.

“The culture of the team is good,” noted Noltkamper. “The athletes have been quick to adapt and are ready to get going. We don’t want to be complacent.”

Junior Emily Martin, and seniors Mae Winglass and Rosa Atienza provide leadership on the field for Morse.

“We still have a lot of things to sort out,” Noltkamper said. “Out of 41 kids, we have 11 juniors and seniors, so we’re relatively young.”

Abby Sreden and Olivia Chabot also provide him some experience as they will both share and battle for time on the field. Noltkamper likes the prospects he has, including a pair of freshmen in Wren Tetreault and Delany Paszcuzzo.

“Wren is doing really well this preseason, she’s always looking to get extra reps, wanting to get better,” her coach adds.

Other members that will look to make an impact this season are Megan Clifford, Paige Faulkingham, Kali Pierce, Marcie Gagne, Samantha Myers and Julia Cliffe.

The Shipbuilders travel to Medomak Valley today (3:30 p.m.) and Lincoln Academy Tuesday (7 p.m.), before hosting Erskine Academy at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 6.

Mt. Ararat

The Eagles just missed the postseason last year after finishing 5-8-1, but second-year coach Chad Kirk likes the way his team has looked this preseason and is excited about the upcoming season.

“Our possession is so much better this season,” notes Kirk. “Our defense is solid, and I don’t think we’ll give up a lot of goals.”

Junior Abby Sirois returns in net while classmates Brennan Thiboutot, Grace Trebilcock and Reese Turcotte bring experience to the field.

Emma Hawkes returns to provide some offense for the Eagles, while Kirk will move junior Heather Gallant from the back to up front to create more scoring opportunities.

Kyla Greenleaf, Erin Harty, Jess Cloutier, Amber Card and Alexa Gurney are also returning to bolster the experience on the team.

Playing on Riverside Field at the Foreside Recreation Facility, Kirk likes the bigger, open soccer field.

“Playing on the football field, we were able to contain a lot due to the narrow field. On Riverside, not so much,” Kirk said. “It’s going to open things up playing down there and we will use it to our advantage with our speed.”

Freshmen Olivia Cox and Emma Hanna will also see time for Kirk this fall.

“We’ve got some hard workers and speed,” Kirk said. “We’ve had a good preseason, playing against Falmouth, Gray-New Gloucester and Lawrence recently.”

The Eagles open the season Friday against Skowhegan at Riverside Field (3:30 p.m.) and next week travels to Lewiston (Tuesday, 7 p.m.) and Edward Little (Sept. 6, 3:30 p.m.)

Lisbon

Another second-year coach, Jenniffer Perron and her Greyhounds are looking forward to a promising season after finishing 9-4-1 a year ago.

Graduating only five seniors, Perron likes how her young team is responding with one another and moving forward.

“This year is looking to be very promising,” Perron said. “We are well rounded with both speed and agility, plus a strong defense.”

Returning to the roster are seniors Carly Drischler, Jordan Ott, and Emma and Sophia DiGregorio. Scoring threats junior Giana Russo (midfield) and Kiley Merritt (forward) are back in the midfield and look to provide offense for the Greyhounds.

Also returning are juniors Caitlyn Hall, Siara Martin and Abby Lebel. Sophomores Destiney Deschaines, Makenzey Bedford, Alexis Kaherl, Susan Hart, Mackenna Poisson and Riece St. Amant will put in long minutes for Perron. Freshmen Reece McAtee, Erica Hill, Abby Cunningham and Alexis Blair also figure to contribute for the Greyhounds.

Sophomore Sarah Haggerty will tend to the net for the Perron, replacing Anna Willey, who graduated last spring.

“She is young, but has tremendous promise,” noted the coach of Haggerty.

Ending the 2017 season as the seven-seed in Class C South, the Greyhounds blanked Mountain Valley Conference foe Carrabec, 2- 0, in a preliminary game before falling to Madison in the quarterfinals by the same score.

Lisbon opens the season at home against Oak Hill today and travels to Telstar on Tuesday before hosting Wiscasset on Sept. 6. All three games begin at 4 p.m.

Freeport

The Freeport Falcons enjoyed a 10-4 season, good for sixth place in the Class B South Heal Points a year ago. They hosted Lincoln Academy in a preliminary game — a 2-1 victory — before falling to a talented Greely team, 4-0, in the quarterfinals.

Dave Intraversato, who has coached the jayvee team the last three seasons, takes over. Former St. Joe’s player Hannah Hebert assists Intraversato and is the jayvee coach.

The Falcons graduated seasoned athletes in Taylor Rinaldi and Joanna Bogue- Marlow to mention a couple, but the coach feels he has a strong core of players.

“We lost some good seniors from last year,” Intraversato said. “But I also feel we have some strong players returning with another year under their belt.”

Returning is sophomore goalie Carly Intraversato. The keeper posted eight shutouts last year in earning Western Maine Conference postseason honors. Senior captains Abbye Koenig, Abbi King and Allison Greuel provide leadership and experience for the Falcons. Junior Abby Brier will also be looked upon to give a strong defensive presence in front of the keeper.

Juniors Cat Gould, Tia Peterson and Tara Migliaccio also return and gives the Falcons a potent offense. Wings Sarah Gray and Annika Thomas also figure to contribute to the offensive gameplan.

New to the varsity squad this season is jayvee top scorer Rachel Wall, as well as Hannah Spaulding and Caroline Smith. Freshman Ellie Whittier and Megan Driscoll both plan to make an impact this season as well.

The team’s goals are to “play our best game ever” game-in and game-out, according to Intraversato, who looks forward to the competitive WMC this year.

The Falcons will play their first regular season game on the new Joan Benoit Samuelson Track and Field this evening at 6 p.m. when they host Gray- New Gloucester. They will travel to Greely for a rematch of last year’s postseason match on Tuesday before hosting Lake Region (Sept. 7) and Yarmouth (Sept. 11).

Richmond

Reaching the Class D state finals the last eight seasons, the Bobcats understand everyone looks at them with a big target on their back, and they seem to like it.

“They always want to write their own chapter,” coach Troy Kendrick said. “They take pride in being the hunted. They talk about it in practice and know they have a target on their back, everyone wants to beat them.”

The 2017 edition went 9-3-2 playing in the East-West Conference along with some crossover games. After beating Pine Tree Academy (10- 1), Rangeley (2-0) and Greenville (2-0) in the D South region, the Bobcats faced Ashland for the fourth straight year in the finals, taking the match 2-1 for their second Gold Ball in three years.

The defending champs graduated three starters from a year ago, and hope to replace the hole left by them.

“While it was only three girls, they were pretty valuable for us,” Kendrick said of losing goalie Sydney Underhill-Tilton and midfielders Destiny Anair and Emily Snowden.

Returning for Kendrick is the core of his defense as the Bobcats are “defense-oriented” according to the coach. Richmond posted 10 shutouts last year, including a pair in the playoffs. Senior Emma Carbone (sweeper) and junior Bryanne Lancaster (stopper) are back to anchor the defense. Marybeth Sloat and Lindsie Irish will hold down the left and right back positions, while senior Kennedy Chandler and freshman Liz Johnson are competing at goalie.

On offense, despite graduating a strong player in Anair, the Bobcats return their top scorer from a year ago in attacker Caitlin Kendrick. The senior knocked home 26 goals last season as she rarely comes off the field. Joining her up front will be striker Ashley Brown and sophomore Bry Shea. Junior midfielders Rylie Irish and Abby Johnson will hold down the midfield.

Richmond opens the season Saturday at Rangeley (11 a.m.) and continue on the road for its next four contests, Temple (at Thomas College, Tuesday), Greater Portland Christian (Wednesday), Vinalhaven (Sept. 8) and Traip Academy (Sept. 12) before playing at home on Sept. 14 against Valley.

Hyde

This year, the Hyde School in Bath will compete in the MVC. The Wolfpack will face several Class C and B teams and will face strong competition during their regular season games, with hopes to qualify for the Class D postseason tournament.

Coached by Matt Newberg and his assistant, Jen Lobozzo, the team looks to play a modified 4-4-2 formation with an “emphasis on offense while honoring sportsmanship above all,” according to Newberg.

Players to watch are junior midfielder Logan Truluck, senior striker Ingrid Schroeter and junior defender Madison Hughes.

The Wolfpack open their season Tuesday at home against Winthrop (4 p.m.) before traveling to Boothbay onThursdayfora4p.m.tilt against the Seahawks.

Wiscasset

Wiscasset will try to make another appearance in the Class D South playoffs after finishing 8-6, good for sixth in the Heal Points last season.

The Wolverines traveled to Searsport and upended the third-seeded Vikings, 4-1, before losing to No. 2 Greenville, 1-0, in the semifinals.

Wiscasset opens Tuesday at home against Hall-Dale (6 p.m.) and will travel to Lisbon on Sept. 6 (4 p.m.) for an MVC clash against the Greyhounds.