The Lancers enter this season with a chip on their shoulder after last season ended with a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Marquette Mustangs in the District Championship game. The Lancers will return almost all of their starters this year, so the team has high hopes for the upcoming season.

“I think we have a good chance because this year we have a lot of returning players, whereas last year we were a really young team,” junior Devyn McDaniels said.

Her teammate, junior Cassandra Deprospero, agrees. Deprospero, “Hopefully we’ll be able to go pretty far into districts” Deprospero said. “We haven’t lost many players, and hopefully the new players can make up for the players we lost.”

Among the returning starters is senior midfielder Taylor Schneider, who has committed to Illinois State for soccer. Schneider is expected to play a large part in the Lancers success this year.

“Taylor Schneider will be our biggest help, she’ll probably be our best player,” Deprospero said. “She controls the middle of the field really well.”

Another returning player is sophomore goalie Taylor Hensley. Last year, Hensley was former goalie Tanner Meyrer’s backup. This year she will step into the starting role for the Lancers.

“Last year she was like Tanner Meyrer’s understudy, but she’s come a long way since last year,” said McDaniels. “I think she’ll be ready for this season.”

The Lancers will face many tough opponents this year, but above all, their focus is on avenging last year’s disappointing end.

“We want to beat Marquette the most, because they took that district championship from us,” Deprospero said.

The Lancers will face Marquette at home on April 16 and they kick off their season at Fort Zumwalt West on March 27 at 5:30 p.m.