MARYSVILLE — Still a young team after graduating a large senior class two years ago, the Marysville-Pilchuck girls soccer team returns 11 players from last year’s varsity squad.

The team went through growing pains last year, going undefeated at home through a month-long stretch, but getting as many ties as wins out of those games.

But even with one of the league’s largest returning rosters, the Tomahawks are going to need some big games from their returning leaders. Junior goalkeeper Lauren Schoonover will be one of Wesco North’s most experienced players returning at her position, an all-conference pick last fall in her first year as a varsity starter. But the team will need more scoring threats if the team hopes to improve over last season’s record.

Enter captain and senior forward Kiely Cordon.

“We just want to go at them, go hard or go home,” said Cordon, one of the few players returning from M-P’s district tournament season two years ago. She forecasts a strong defense for this fall. In addition, three of the team’s returning forwards scored multiple goals last year — juniors Danielle Norton, Mady Schoonover and Cordon herself. Returning defenders include senior Rachel Hamelin, senior Courtney Wear and sophomore Becca Lentz. In the midfield, the team returns junior Melissa Kirk, senior Karissa Loe, junior Krista Riozzi and senior Kayla Thistle.

While a conference championship would be an ambitious goal in a year when district teams Lake Stevens, Everett and Arlington all return key players, the girls have hopes of a top-four finish and another district tournament run.

“They know what they want to do,” said head coach Gary Riozzi, who is helming the Tomahawks this fall while last year’s varsity coach Geoff Kittle is taking the season off to lead Everett Community College’s girls program. A successful season for this girls team will likely be the result of a solid, steady effort, rather than the emergence of a superstar or two, Riozzi added.

“Our biggest goal is, I told them, ‘Let’s just look for districts,’” he said.

Cordon has another goal, starting the team’s season opener at Lake Stevens Sept. 8.

“We’re coming in with a lot of determination,” she said. “We’re underdogs for sure, but we want to make teams afraid of us.”

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