WAVERLY, Iowa—The Wartburg women's soccer team under fourth-year head coach, Tiffany Pins, is eager to start competing against its opponents.

"We bring back a large group of returners which will be nice as we were quite young last year," she said. "We have a fantastic group of young ladies that are starting to come together; their unity and energy on the field has been fantastic."

Senior Katie Reinhardt (Waverly) was the main goalkeeper last season and also shared time with now-sophomore Sophia Perez (Cedar Falls). Two additional keepers are on the roster in sophomore Ali Schuetz (Bettendorf) and freshman Beth Crow (North Liberty). While an opening day starter has not yet been named, Coach Pins said, "I can't really say which direction we're going in and need a few more days to assess. At the same time, we have some experience and have young talent and I'm excited to see how that transpires."

Pins sees seniors Tia Hagy (Muscatine) and Ashley Kerns (Ames), juniors Brittany Frush (La Porte City) and Kerri Gollinghurst (Dixon), sophomore Olivia Janssen (Johnsburg, Ill.) and freshman Alyssa Hewitt (Clive) as providing the team with more options offensively.

"I moved Brittany Frush up top late last season and she scored a lot of goals for us," said Pins. "She's never played up there until last year, so she's had a whole year to settle in and is ready to go. I'm interested to see who steps up as we're going to need more than one to do so.

"Kerns is a very intelligent player," she continued. "She's very strong on the ball and her physical presence in the middle was huge for us. She's someone that going to win the ball for us and is a vocal leader."

While the Knights were selected to tie for third in the Iowa Conference preseason coaches' poll, Pins doesn't put much to that. "I don't put a lot of stock into polls," she said. "It's going to matter where we end up. The conference as a whole, everyone was pretty young last year. For the most part, every school has a lot of returners this season."

As is typical, the Orange and Black have a tough schedule and will face a lot of regional opponents in their preseason.

Wartburg opens on the road against Macalester, Friday, Aug. 29 at 7:30 p.m.

Waterloo Courier preview