SYRACUSE - Wawasee is starting its girls soccer program from even further behind than most. That is because, despite an enthusiasm from the girls of the school system to start the team, the experience is a little behind. Make that a lot behind.

"One of our problems is that we have no girls who have had any kind of travel league experience," Wawasee coach Rick Shipley said. "We had to start with the lines on the field and what they are. It has been tough for us. We had to start from virtually nothing. It will take several years for us to get caught up with the rest of the conference."

Wawasee lost the debut game of its program 2-0 to East Noble Thursday.

Most teams are able to start practice with learning new plays and new techniques, but with the Warriors, the rules of the game have come first.

"The trouble we have had since Aug. 4 (first day of practice) is teaching these girls the game of soccer," Shipley said. "It is kind of foreign to them. Now, they are starting to understand the points we have been trying to get across."

Even the goals for the Warriors will be basic. While teams look for their first win, the Warriors will be excited by just getting their first goal of the season.

"Our first big thing is trying to get that first goal," Shipley said. "That is a big step for us. Defense is a lot easier to set up than offense and understanding how to move the ball. Some of these kicks that they have been introduced to, they are just not used to. We are going to have a big problem until we can find one of our wings who is capable of centering the ball."

After the first two periods of its jamboree Monday, the Warriors are still looking for that elusive goal, dropping 2-0 and 3-0 decisions in two quarters.

"We improved a lot from our first session of our jamboree to our second session," Shipley said. "They played much better in the second half."

Despite not having the luxury of returning experience, Shipley expects three girls, sweeper Cara Price, forward Missy Miller and back Sarah Shipley, to emerge as leaders on the field.

"We could like to be more and more competitive each game, but I know that once we get into Warsaw and Concord, the teams that have been around for awhile, we are not even going to be competitive," Shipley said. "You have to take your lumps and pay your dues. Hopefully some day it will be there."

NorthWood girls

At Nappanee, the Panther girls are also beginning their program this year with very little experience in other programs.

"We have about three or four girls that have played in summer leagues," NorthWood coach Jill Demitruk said. "We have been spending a lot of time on the basics, dribbling, passing and shooting. We have just taken the last week getting into game strategy."

Demitruk expects good things out of sophomore sweeper Katie Soner, senior stopper Heidi Collins, Anne Brubaker and Tara Collins.

"We do have some good players, but as far as playing as a team, we are not quite there yet," Demitruk said. "It will take a couple of games to get used to that. The girls have been working hard. The toughest thing has been getting them to play as a team, passing and seeing the whole field. They are still looking down at the ball."

Like most new programs, Demitruk is keeping the goals simple for the team.

"We haven't talked a lot about winning or losing," she said. "We want to have this many shots per game or saves per game and those type of things, really basic things."

NorthWood lost its debut game 5-1 to Goshen.

Wawasee boys

The Warriors should be loaded with experience this year with 11 lettermen returning from a 7-7-3 team from last year.

"It will be a very experienced team," Wawasee coach Paul Boyd said. "It should be fun. I think we will finish on the winning side. I wouldn't be surprised if we won between 60-70 percent of our games."

Wawasee will have coming back last year's Most Valuable Player, Jay Haugh, along with the Most Improved Player in Jerod Galloway. Other key returners include Matt Coy and Jeb Freeman.

Boyd said he sees the style of play for this team being one that has to work hard for everything it gets.

"I think they will scrap it in," Boyd said. "We are not going to finesse anybody down the field. But they are very aggressive, maybe too aggressive. I have really let them play in the preseason. I haven't backed off in the contact because in years past the opponent's contact has taken us out of our game."

Despite the .500 record of last year, Boyd said there were a lot of matches that the Warriors could have won, but didn't. He is hoping for a reversal of fortune this year.

"We were in a lot of matches last year, we didn't get blown out like the year before," he said. "We need to play within themselves and not try to something they are not capable of."

Warsaw boys

Warsaw boys coach Corey Rose expects to have a different team at the end of the season than he starts with. No personnel will change, just experience levels.

The Tigers return only three starters from last year's sectional runners-up team, and it will take some time for the team to gel, according to Rose.

"They haven't had a whole lot of time working together and getting to know what each other is doing," Rose said. "As the season goes on and they get used to working with each other and expecting certain players to do certain things, it can only get better."

As usual, the Tigers should have a strong defense with All-Northern Lakes Conference performers Matt Brown (goalie) and Bret Dickerson (sweeper) returning to anchor the defense.

"I pretty much have my defense with some experience," Rose said. "If we can score some goals, we will be a hard team to beat. Our problem over the past few years has been scoring goals. Not too many teams score goals on us, but we don't score too many goals. That has been the trend, but hopefully we can change that this year."

Also returning for Warsaw this year will be David Gehrke, Brad Waggoner, Dan Ropte, Kyle Smith and Phil Hood.

"We are not a bad team right now, but hopefully by the end of the year, we will be a good team," Rose said.

Warsaw girls

Tigers coach Brent Wildman wants to turn his Warsaw girls loose this season.

"We have a lot of offensive power," Wildman said. "The trick is going to be the balance between offense and defense and actually make the offense work from a secure foundation."

With leading scorer Bobbi Wildman returning, along with last year's Most Valuable Player, Lindsay Bruick, and last year's Most Improved Player, Rachel Buhrt, the Tigers look to get the ball into the goal.

"The girls spent a lot of time this summer on traveling teams and in leagues in Fort Wayne," Wildman said. "What we are going to try to do this year, for the fans especially, is make the game of soccer more entertaining. We are going to put forth a lot more risk in terms of goals."

Warsaw finished at .500 record-wise last year, but will have eight seniors and four underclassmen to bolster its roster this year.

"We come to this season with greater skill and experience," Wildman said. "We are shorthanded a little bit in terms of numbers. Everybody is going to have a strategic role."

Warsaw is off to an 0-0-1 start after a 2-2 tie with Fort Wayne Northrop Tuesday.

"The girls are going to be very good against similar programs who had a similar start date (in their programs)," Wildman said. "I feel we will dominate the group of teams that is operating from the same starting base. We are going to play some tough teams, too. Those are going to be tough, but we are going to try to pick off one or two of those." [[In-content Ad]]