Hoping to capitalize on a strong finish to the 2015 season, Boothbay Region High School’s girls soccer team is looking for bigger results entering this year’s campaign. Seahawks second-year coach Ben Powell feels his team — led by senior co-captains Angelique Perkins and Colette Bertin — is poised to make a return run to the Mountain Valley Conference Class C playoffs.

“We made strides last year,” said Powell. “I don’t think five, six or even seven wins is out of the question this year. We’ve got a good mix of experienced players and up and coming talent. This team has a lot of potential.”

Powell is pleased by the level of enthusiasm the players are bringing to the team. 

“We only lost one starter from last year,” said Powell. “I’m looking for the experienced players to lead us and our sophomores and juniors to fill in the gaps.”

After starting the season with wins over Dirigo and Lisbon,  the 2015 squad finished 3-11 but reached the playoffs for the first time in years, said Powell. Powell, who played soccer in college, is preaching an aggressive, uptempo strategy to his players. The defense is solid but the offense needs more firepower, he said. Keeping things in perspective., Powell wants them to have fun and be fundamentally sound. With soccer being a game of many moving parts, the key is to have them running like a well-oiled machine. Or as Dutch football legend Johan Cruyff put it; soccer is simple but difficult to play simple.

“We are working on passing, moving in space and the basics defensively and offensively,” said Powell. “We are coming along much faster than last year. I’m real happy with our progress.”

In a recent scrimmage against Searsport, the offense netted three goals, a promising start. The 17-game season features an opening tilt against natural rival Wiscasset on Sept. 2, games against recent rival Dirigo, and matchups with Oak Hill, Carrabec and Lisbon. 

“The opening game against Wiscasset should be a good one,” he said. “We lost 1-0 last year and it was a tough, tough loss. We dominated most of the game but came up short.”

With expectations high, co-captains Perkins and Bertin are embracing their leadership roles for a team on the rise. 

“We feel good about the season,” said Bertin. “Our goal is to make the playoffs and be competitive. I think we can do that.”

The team kicks off its season on Friday, Sept. 2 at 4 p.m. at Clifford Field in Boothbay.