 Well coming off a 14 win campaign in the school's four semifinal appearance in the conference tournament the BSU women's soccer team has high expectations heading into 2017. Now a week into practice for the Beaver soccer team and the excitement for the upcoming season is very easy to see. Great just to see all the returning faces and and to get to know the newcomers more and just kind of see the team come together here a little bit in this first week has been rewarding. Twenty players returned from a season ago from a team that saw plenty of success advancing the conference tournament final four but it's a new year and they want to learn from that run and improve. It was awesome and and I could tell by the end we were burned out and now we've learned from that and now we know okay going into that locker room the energy needs to be there and we need to really realize oh my gosh we're in the semifinals like this we could be in the championship. Joining the 20 returning players a group of eight talented freshmen that have gelled together from the start and ready to make an impact. You can just tell they love it here they all bond really well together and that just makes it easier for them to bond with the returners and yeah it makes it fun and you can just tell that they are hardworking and they love to play soccer and will do anything for us. And one key to look for for the Beavers replacing forward Sarah Strom offensively and to do that they'll need more scoring from their midfield and other areas. I think we have players who can step up into those roles and kind of create goals but you know we may play a little bit differently and try and in order to create those goals. So with their experience and talent returning to the field the Beavers were picked third in the preseason for the NSIC this year but they know the season is a grind and are ready to take it day by day. Work hard come to every training put everything else aside let's just focus for this hour and a half maybe if a game doesn't go right not how we want it okay let's just put it behind us and reset and really start start a new slate start start fresh. So they open up September 5th 5 p.m on the road at Minnesota Crookston. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland public television.