It is back to the basics for the Washington girls soccer team.

After losing six starters or major contributors from last year's team, the Warriors are starting from scratch this season, retooling lineups and formations to fit a drastically different team.

“Last year was a good group, we had a lot of good leadership, a lot of kids that were four-year starters,” Coach Sean McCoy said. “It will be interesting to see how this group does.”

Although the team is returning many starters, there are so many new faces this year that the Warriors must spend the early portion of their season getting used to one another.

“Most of the core of our team left, so it is definitely a rebuilding year,” said senior defender Morgan Bjornsen, who has committed to play at UNI next year. “We are just taking it one step at a time. We have to start all over and learn the formations and how to cover each other, just the basics again.”

The Warriors will be looking to Bjornsen a lot to fill some of the void in leadership left by last year's senior class. But as one of the Warriors' most experienced players, taking control of the team is something that will be new to her.

“Morgan is our leader for sure,” McCoy said. “She has been around, won state championships for club and she has played since she was 10. I had her then and she was a great kid then, too.

“It’s her group. I don’t really do voting for captains, I just don’t say anything about it. I let the kids go and see what happens and a leader just rises to the top. It’s Morgan’s team, the girls know it, but she has got to do a little bit more on the vocal side, she is not loud, she is very softspoken.”

But Bjornsen will not need to carry the leadership load completely by herself. Seniors like Ashley Piper, who is coming off a successful senior basketball season where she helped the Warriors get to state, can help.

Another change that the Warriors will make is how they play defense. Bjornsen is the only returner from the Warriors' back-line last season.

“Last year we played three in the back so we had to be careful about how we chose to go forward and how we attacked out of the back,” Bjornsen said. “Now that we are playing with four in the back, we can attack through the outside flanks and we can get more people forward through the back.”

Along with the extra defender, Washington probably will adopt a slower, more possession based style of play than it was able to play last season. “Last year we were more of an attacking team but this year we will be more conservative since we have lost so many people,” Bjornsen said.

The Warriors understand they will not be the big fish in the pond this season, but that doesn’t mean they won’t end up playing like it.

“We are not going to be that big of a threat on paper but I’ll tell you what, it might be a mistake to sleep on this group,” McCoy said. “We just have kids that have been there and done it before on other levels or in other sports. So we will see.”