Just one season after graduating a mammoth senior class of 12 varsity players who sparked a second-place state run last spring, The Overlake School boys’ soccer team could easily see themselves on the outside looking in.

But the boys’ soccer program, headed by veteran coach Bob Bristol, is as deep as it has ever been, and they will be counting on last year’s reserves to make an impact in 2010.

“We have a lot of real skillful players coming back, but we don’t have the same athleticism that we had with all those seniors,” Bristol noted, adding that a new trainer on campus has been helping his team get into prime soccer shape. “We have some players that have been working just to get stronger and faster.”

LIGHTING THE OFFENSIVE FIRE

Last season, the Owls had a number of players at the midfield and forward slots who could score on any given play. In fact, the now-graduated trio of Sky Tweedie-Yates, Devon Schmidt and Hakan Yagiz, Bristol estimates, scored “about 40 goals” between them throughout the season.

“We’ll have to make that up in some way,” he said.

The Owls still retained leading scorer Jesse Klug, who has commitments to club soccer but will play as much as possible for the Owls, and a solid ball handler in Rohan Kumar, who scored two goals in the Owls’ 3-2 victory over Tacoma Baptist Tuesday night.

Joe Dolack, a returning defender moving to midfield, and Jarrett Taylor, a junior midfielder coming up from the junior varsity team, also will be players to watch.

“He’s very clever with the ball and looks so smooth,” Bristol said of Taylor. “He does everything very easily but looks very dangerous.”

But with the inexperience and lack of punch in the front compared to years past, more pressure than ever will be placed on the defense to limit the opportunities of opponents, and that is where the Owls will shine.

The Munoz twins, Grant and Marcus, both return as team captains and will anchor the defense, which also includes Mac Hewitt, who saw some playing time in the postseason after getting called up late last year. Tyler Reichenadter is another returner who will see an increased role this season.

“He’ll play in the center back,” Bristol said of Hewitt. “We saw he was going to be good last year, but he’s very good offensively and reads the game real well.”

Grant Munoz said, “We feel really comfortable with (Hewitt) in the back, and Tyler was coming off the bench last year too. Pretty much all the defense we’ve played (together) and feel comfortable with.”

The Owls’ weakness will be at the goalkeeping position, after the graduation of Chap Grubb and John Stolarczuk last year, as well as an unfortunate injury that is causing Bristol to scramble.

“We were going to use J.J. Cardenas, who played JV last year, but he got injured in the first week or preseason outside of school, so it’s going to take him a while to get back,” Bristol explained. “We’re not sure who we’re going to go with yet, but goalie will be a key for us to fill.”

ONE STEP AT A TIME

It may be a bit unrealistic to expect a repeat of last season’s 20-1-1 year to remember, but the Owls feel they have the tools to still be in control of the Emerald City League.

“We lost a lot of starters, but the thing about last year was that we were really, really deep,” Marcus said. “We have a lot of people coming off the bench that could play really well too … our midfield and defense looks really solid.”

When asked what the key to making a return trip to state in 2011 will be, Grant added,”We need to stay healthy and not get injured … We’ll be really focusing on our defense and making sure we get the ball up top and score goals.”

Bristol maintained that his team’s first goal is to win the league, which will make the Owls’ road through the District Tournament much easier and hopefully end in another six-month layoff before the 1A state tournament in the spring.

“We’re confident that we have some good players that play outside and are comfortable,” Bristol said. “We need to find that proven goal-scorer. We had a record-setting year last season in goals scored, so being solid there is going to make a difference.”