In her time at Mexico, Sarah Olson hasn’t seen a girls soccer team as big as this season’s.

She has four seasons under her belt as an assistant coach and a head coach and said she has about 30 girls coming out this season in her second head coaching season. The sophomores make up the biggest portion at 12 due to several deciding to join the team this year and some of the six seniors are foreign exchange students with little to no experience.

Olson said conditioning is important for all players to have still but believes it will be easier for everybody if there are more girls available in the rotation.

“Numbers, in itself, is a big strength,” Olson said. “If you have some equality even in your bench players, you could give someone a decent break who is a starter and not be hurting too much.”

The defensive rotation won’t change that much according to Olson since Mexico returns three of its four defensive starters including Liz Joiner, Addison Paden and two-time all-conference player Kenley Jones. Defense is an area that benefits greatly from having the same faces.

“It is nice to have some cohesions back there,” Olson said. “They see, especially our centerback, the whole field and are a guiding voice for everyone.”

The Lady Bulldogs’ leading scorers from a year ago are back including Claire Hudson and all-conference player Emily Moppin. Marali Herrera also returns after “controlling the middle” of the field for Mexico last year.

Among the five freshmen Olson has, she said doesn’t have girls that are unfamiliar with the sport as Aunna Bessolo, Brenda Matuz and Kaili Cox all played for the Mexico YMCA Fire Soccer Club in middle school.

Olson said those freshmen have skills and can step up this season, but even for those not as skilled yet, the Lady Bulldogs have camaraderie. She jokes that the girls never seem to run out of “silliness,” but that is good since it keeps the environment light.

“They are happy to be here, they get along with each other and they are hard workers,” Olson said. “That’s what comes first. A lot of these girls are not super skilled at soccer. When I played at first, I was not super skilled. If the work ethic is there, the other things will follow.”

Olson admits that having many inexperienced players means a lack of soccer knowledge, but that is only at the beginning of development. She said the Lady Bulldogs have been taught proper positioning during various situations, which will become even more clear once more games are played.

Mexico did technically play other teams already but in the context of a preseason jamboree at Southern Boone in Ashland. The Lady Bulldogs tied Southern Boone 1-1 and lost 2-1 to Fulton.

“I did see a lot of things that we talked about last year that maybe didn’t come to pass a ton until the end of the year happening in those jamborees,” Olson said. “There was a lot of passing, a lot of communication and people taking shots – don’t wait or hesitate, take the shot – and those two goals came off of those things.”

Mexico will adjust at goalkeeper, but Olson insists it won’t be as big of an adjustment. Tessa Haefling, who etched her name near the top of the MSHSAA record books in her career along with earning multiple all-conference selections, graduated so it will be Katie Crews as the primary option in goal. Cox can back her up from her experience for the Fire club, but Crews brings 10 varsity games of experience due to Haefling not being able to go in goal due to injury.

“She had to play a lot of big games for us,” Olson said. “It was definitely a loss, but hopefully that will get filled in, and she’ll gain some confidence back.”

Mexico recorded its third straight 20-loss season a year ago, but like Olson said when she was hired, the wins will follow as long as the Lady Bulldogs keep achieving small goals.

“My first goal as a teacher and as a coach is to become a better you,” Olson said. “If you start there instead of saying we’re going to win 15 games, then I think you can always be happy with progress because that is very attainable. You then start adding in those goals slowly like the other night at our jamboree, we made a small goal to score a goal and we did that.”