The Aberdeen Central girls’ soccer team overcame a rough end to the regular season to make a strong playoff push last season. As this year’s campaign gets underway the Golden Eagles will be looking to build on that momentum.

“I think every year you have to start over,” said Central coach Merle Aske, “but the girls remember that.”

Aske said that while the team was able to turn it around and play well in the postseason, there is no guarantee that will happen every season. He would much rather see the squad have a better path in the playoffs.

“We’d much rather be a higher seed, a top 5-6 seed, but the biggest thing is when the playoffs start it’s just the team that gets on a roll, and the girls did a good job of staying focused all last year,” Aske said. “We went into the last few games, we had four games in a row where we lost 1-0. That’s a tough pill to swallow, but a lot of teams would have just folded up the tent, but we could see it was coming. The girls just kept working hard in practice.”

This year’s team will be led by seven seniors. It’s an important group that always sets the tone for the season, according to Aske.

“I tell the seniors every year, we’re going to go as far as you take us. That’s kind of what it boils down to,” Aske said. “If your seniors are not leaders, they’re not getting the work done for everybody else, then it’s going to be tough for you to go anywhere, because everybody is going to look to them to see what we need to be doing.”

Central has 37 girls out for soccer this fall, an average number for the Golden Eagles.

Aske, who always tries get varsity time for members from a variety of classes on the pitch, said it’s key to have a large group of capable players.

“Especially early in the year, you’ve got to get everybody playing time and you’ve got get everybody minutes at the varsity level that you think you’re going to need,” Aske said, “because you never know when injuries can occur or something’s going to happen, or you get in on a 90-degree day and people start dropping.”

This year’s captains include seniors Kaylee Donat and Kaylee Kiesow, and junior Paige Ewalt. While Central has numerous players with varsity experience, Aske said he is still trying to put the pieces together.

“I’m trying to figure out our rotations as far as who’s going to fill here and who’s going to fill there,” Aske said. “That’s the biggest thing is we have a lot of new faces, a lot of new starters and stuff, that are just going to have to learn the ropes a little bit and see where we got to be.”

Aske said an often overlooked part of the squad is the defense, a unit which helps to keep the Golden Eagles in games.

“Your defensive backs, they’re the stalwarts of what you do,” Aske said. “They get the attack going, but the biggest thing is sometimes they’re put on an island and they’ve got to be able to stop that pressure when it’s coming until everybody else can recover, especially if a team gets a counter attack. They don’t have any stats and stuff, but they’re probably the most important parts of what we do.”

Offensively, sophomore Keyana Stillman is coming off a break-out season last year. Look for the Golden Eagles to play more of a controlled game, possessing the ball at every opportunity.

“We’re always going to want to get up the field and hold pressure on the other team as much as possible. I think that’s the big key,” Aske said. “The less time you play defense, the less opportunity the other team has to score, so as long as we can hold possession and transition the ball into the lanes where we want them.”

Central starts its season by hosting Pierre at 4 p.m. Friday. Interestingly enough, Pierre is one of the team’s the Golden Eagles knocked out to start the playoffs last year.

“The Pierre game is always a rivalry game. We’ve always had scraps with Pierre,” Aske said. “They’re always a tough opponent and they’re always ready to go.”

Central would like to make a strong playoff run again this season, just have a bit more success before the Golden Eagles get there.

“We just want to be in the mix and be playing our best at the end,” Aske said, “and make a run when we get to the playoffs.”