With 23 players on the varsity roster, the Oswego East girls soccer team knows it has a good chance on improving on last year's showing.

"We've got a good number of girls in the program, and they are pretty motivated and excited for the season," Oswego East coach Hayley Morganegg said. "They have been very positive and are into supporting each other. They are really into turning things around.

"We lost some close key games last year. We understood [conference] came down to one or two games, so we are definitely looking forward to reversing that. We feel we have a crew that is here to win every day."

Ten of those 23 players are returning from last year's squad that finished 8-11-1 overall and 4-3 in the Southwest Prairie Conference. They are seniors Taylor Cassian, Abigail Glasgow, juniors Alexe Anderson, Kara Blasingame, Taylor Peck (the lone returning All-Conference player), Emma Ross, Rachel Mieritz, Stephanie Mieritz, Maddy Lambert and sophomore Analise Tobias. The new players are senior Ashley Binkowski, juniors Delaney Quick, Chalis Robinson, Jasmine Ruiz, sophomores Riley Cassian, Hannah Houston, Rachel Savaglio, Molly Schiltz, Katlyn Selvig and freshmen Madeline Kastel, Morgan Miller, Katie Olivas and Reagan Sanders.

Morganegg said there is no one superstar on the team just yet - and that's just fine with her.

"[Balanced] is a great word to describe this team; we are very balanced," Morganegg said.

The Wolves start conference action at Plainfield North, the defending SPC champion, on March 31, Plainfield South on April 5 and at rival Oswego on April 7.

The Pepsi Showdown is scheduled for April 9-16 before Oswego East resumes SPC play at home against Romeoville. The final game of the regular season is at Waubonsie Valley.

Oswego East 4, Yorkville 2: Oswego East won its first game of the season on Tuesday in the 4-2 decision over Yorkville. The Wolves received goals from Maddy Lambert, Taylor Peck, Chalis Robinson and Jasmine Ruis with assists from Peck, Molly Schiltz and Kara Blasingame.