By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

A third consecutive district championship––and eighth in the last decade––made for another impressive season for the Springfield Catholic girls soccer team last spring.

The Fightin' Irish compiled a 14-6-1 record with five losses by one goal, including a 1-0 loss to Helias Catholic in the Class 3 quarterfinals.

"We had a great season overall, it was very successful, and we had a large group of seniors last year," said Catholic coach Mackenzie Serrano. "We graduated a strong senior class that really played a huge role in establishing the culture and competitiveness of the program. They were there since I started coaching with the Catholic team. They graduated and that includes our second and seventh career scorers, Peyton Wiseman (102 goals) and Campbell Morgan (70) so losing that production is big but they helped setting a foundation for the team moving forward."

Wiseman was a first-team Class 3 All-State (and All-Region) forward, while Morgan earned second-team All-State (and All-Region) honors as a midfielder. The Irish also graduated defender Maggie Mahaffey, an honorable mention All-State player; goalkeeper Grace Hoerschgen, an All-Region selection, and midfielder Izzie Belz, an All-Region pick who was the team's third-leading scorer last year.

Catholic will lean on seven varsity returners this spring to lead a young roster that Serrano said is probably the youngest in program history.

"Our returning players did a great job, and they've done great stepping into leadership roles and bringing in the younger players during the preseason," Serrano said.

That group of returners includes lone senior Alice Farmer, who's played center back and helped on the defensive line for the last three seasons.

"She's really embraced the leadership responsibilities," Serrano said.

Junior returners include Izzie Hoerschgen and Jude Daues, who both recorded 1 goal and 5 assists last season.

"They both bring a lot of experience and composure for us," Serrano said.

And a strong sophomore class returns with Crosby Morgan (6 goals, 7 assists), Claire Majorahn (9 goals, 7 assists), Sophia Foley and Cayla Ahmadnia.

"We've got a great group coming back," Serrano said. "All of them gained meaningful varsity minutes last year and have continued to develop which will be huge for us this season."

"We have a few girls coming up from JV this year who will be juniors," she said. "We've got several underclassmen who are going to see meaningful varsity minutes. They've shown a lot of confidence earlier and they all have significant club experience. We have 12 freshmen and even though we're going to be young we have a lot of talent and competitiveness coming in this next group."

Even with the youth of this year's roster, Serrano said expectations don't really change for the Irish.