Even with an exceptionally young team, Douglas High girls' soccer coach Lorraine Fitzhugh said she feels the Tigers will enter the year with one of the best collective soccer IQ's in the region.
"It's a real luxury," Fitzhugh said. "They coach themselves out on the field. They come out ready, warm themselves up and they're just a pleasure to coach.
"This group will be able to handle a high level of strategy. We'll throw a lot at our opponents, We'll hold our own on the defensive end, we'll be throwing a lot of speed down the sidelines and hopefully we'll show a lot of creativity in switching midfielders and forwards " have a lot of movement up top which will be tough to track."
With eight underclassmen, including four freshmen, the Tigers will get thrown right into the fire this weekend at the Galena Invitational.
Aside from the expected 98-degree-plus temperatures, many of the top teams in the region will be there, including defending state champion Reed.
"All the big guns will be there," Fitzhugh said. "It's a get-used-to-each other weekend. The biggest thing is we want to play safe, get through without any injuries, and get used to the varsity environment.
"For the freshmen, you're going up against mature athletes with more experience, but we wouldn't have brought them up if we didn't feel they'd make an impact this season."
All four freshman come from a much-decorated and well-traveled spring league club, the Carson Valley Netrippers, which has been playing together for five years.
They'll join spring teammate, sophomore Alex Laing, who made her varsity debut with the Tigers last year and led the team in assists with 10.
"Each one of them is kind of at an even plain right now," Fitzhugh said. "They are very balanced in terms of talent and very capable against older competition."
While Douglas' strong suit last year was a staunch defense (10 shutouts, in 23 games), the Tigers will be replacing a number of key components.
Last season's backup keeper, junior Christy Harvey, and freshman Brianna Randall will battle it out for the starting spot in net over the next several weeks.
Seniors Sage Lyons, a first-team all-league honoree last year, and Mackenzie Cauley will anchor the defense.
While Cauley will remain an outside defender, Lyons will move from the center to the outside this year.
"Sage will be able to move to her natural position on the outside this year," Fitzhugh said. "She did a great job in the middle last season with an all-league mention, but we believe she will be even stronger this year on the outside. Mackenzie made a name for herself late last year and she is really peaking coming into this season.
The middle will be covered by two new players with freshman Cora Moody and junior Shelby Eisele sliding in.
"Cora is a strong defender-midfielder type," Fitzhugh said. "She has great vision, strong passing and she's just a strong defender. Shelby is looking really great as well."
Fitzhugh expects a steady overall rotation on defense with sophomore Sierra Bertolone-Smith and junior Kelsey Conklin rounding out the defensive unit.
"They'll all rotate in," Fitzhugh said. "It'll be a process of getting the new players up to speed with what we are doing. Again, there's a lot of balance, so it doesn't matter so much who is in, they'll all be able to sub in for each other. It gives us a lot of depth."
Outside of that, Fitzhugh said she sees the remaining 10 players on the Tigers' roster as interchangeable between midfield and forward.
"We'll be doing a lot of switching, both in-game and in substitution," she said.
"Rotations will be pretty easy. Every single player on the roster is pretty much somebody that could be a captain. Every player is showing an amazing amount of commitment and intensity in what they are doing."
Offensively, Douglas returns its top three goal scorers.
"The shooting and offense will be stronger than we have ever had," Fitzhugh said.
"We'll have a strong attack, we'll be strong in transition -- it should be good all the way around."
Leading the group will be senior Ally Freitas (16 goals, 1 assist in 2007, 24 goals for her career), who has an outside shot at the state and school records for goals in a career (56) and season (26).
"Her mental game has grown so much," Fitzhugh said. "She is ready for the year. She'll be as good as she can possibly be."
Senior Dany Heidt, who along with Freitas, has been named one of this year's team captains, scored seven goals to go with two assists last year.
"She is looking ready to go," Fitzhugh said. "She's shown a lot of good leadership qualities so far."
Laing (six goals, 10 assists) brings a blistering shot in along with her vision of the field.
"Alex has an amazing outside shot," Fitzhugh said.
Other returners include Michelle Day (three goals last year) who started at forward and Kelly D'Amico.
"Kelly is so ready for the season," Fitzhugh said. "She is one our best players in terms of touch and she has good vision in the midfield."
Junior CJ Baumgartner (two goals, two assists) also returns, although she spent a lot of time on the defensive end, last season.
One of the most exciting new offensive players will be freshman Kaite Dry, who has had experience in the Olympic Development Program.
"Katie is a speedster, just very quick," Fitzhugh said. "She has that strong background and she'll be very good."
The remaining freshman is Tia Lyons, who joins older sister Sage on the team and is expected to make a big impact this year.
Sophomore Natalie Freitas, Ally's younger sister, completes Douglas' second sister tandem.
"We'll have two sets of sisters this year, that will be fun," Fitzhugh said.
Sophomore Kyra Barth is also new to the team, fresh off a standout season in the high jump for the track and field team.
"She's very tall and is an excellent athlete," Fitzhugh said. "She'll benefit from being at the varsity level and we are excited to have her.
"This team is very strong and very deep. You'd think it would be a rebuilding year, but our hope is to go to a higher level."
