DeKALB - Sara Kooistra was all set to get on the field last year for her first season as the DeKalb girls soccer head coach, but as the season was set to start, the COVID-19 pandemic canceled all spring sports.

After a year of uncertainty about when and even if she and the Barbs would take the field, it’s finally set to happen Tuesday against Kaneland.

“It’s been absolutely chaotic,” Kooistra said. “It’s been a mess for the most part. It’s not that it totally sucks - we’re flexible, we can get through anything - but with all the other sports getting pushed back, space is hard to come by. With the whole COVID things we probably have 15 less girls coming out than last year.”

Kooistra is in a position that would have been unheard of before this year - she’s in her second year as head coach but has yet to coach a game for the Barbs.

She took over when PJ Hamilton went to coach the DeKalb boys team. He’s coached two seasons worth of games already while Kooistra is still waiting for her on-the0field debut.

Senior defender Bella de la Cruz said the 2020 season was shaping up to be a good one, but that is just making the team more excited for 2021.

“She really led this group and it looked like it was going to be a really good season,” de la Cruz said. “That’s why we’re more excited this season. She gets to show us her way of how she sees the game and put her input in on how she sees the game. I think she’s really going to take us places.”

The girls soccer team is also in the unusual scenario of not having played in the DuPage Valley Conference yet. Every DeKalb team sport except for softball has gone through at least one conference season.

“We didn’t get to see the new talent and the different teams in the DVC,” de la Cruz said. “But I definitely think it’s going to be a challenge but we’re excited to get exposure to new teams and work together as a group to try and pull out some wins.”

But Kooistra said she’s been impressed with the way the team has handled the endless stream of wrinkles thrown at them this year.

Junior defender Natalie Rosenow agreed.

“Everything this year has been challenging with the pandemic and all, so I think we’ll adjust just fine,” Rosenow said. “We’re tough, so we’ll learn how to battle it out.”

The Barbs have a young team this year, Kooistra said, plus low numbers - only 28 players out over two levels of the program.

But Kooistra said there’s a lot of quality players in the mix and the team is making it work, even though there was just over a week from the start of practices to the first scheduled game.

“It’s hard because we have very little time to work on things both technically and tactically,” Kooistra said. “I think they’re doing OK. There’s some rust but luckily IHSA was able to give us those contact days before the season. So we’ve been working with whoever was coming out before the season started, which was a decent amount of girls.”

Both Rosenow and de la Cruz said the transition to Kooistra has gone well. And de la Cruz said she likes how the team is shaping up.

“I think we’re looking pretty good,” de la Cruz said. “We definitely have a lot of good players on our team. We have a lot of talent and I think it’s going to be a challenge in the new conference but I think we’ll do well. We have a strong defense and a fast offense, and I think we’ve been playing as a group the last year and really bonded.”