A large senior class and a group of talented newcomers should help the Oak Harbor High School girls soccer team move up the Western Conference standings this fall.

Back are 12 letter winners, including nine seniors: Alyssa Eden (midfield), Nalani Gabbert (defender), Jacalyn Hefflefinger (forward), Hayley Lundstrom (midfield), Rebecca Pabona (defender), Makenzie Perry (goalkeeper), Lauryn Plush (midfield), Vivien Valles (midfield) and Paige Waterman (defender).

Also returning are junior Alyssa Cross (defender) and sophomores Jennifer Turnek (midfield) and Lydia Peplinski (forward).

Turnek was a first-team, all-Wesco choice last season, while Pabona earned second-team honors and Cross and Gabbert were honorable mention.

Among the top newcomers are juniors Suzanne Kaltenbach (defender) and Ayla Muller (goalie), sophomore Mary Johnston (forward) and freshman Kailey Etherington (defender/midfield), according to coach Mike Lonborg.

“We are faster this year and we return quite a few defenders and our goalie situation should be solid, but we have to figure out ways to score,” Lonborg said. “Last year we cut our goals against down compared to the previous year by a substantial margin (from 71 to 39), but we had problems scoring.”

The Wildcats scored eight times in 2013, and four of those came in one match.

Lonborg said the expectations for the year are “pretty basic.”

“We would like to get back to the playoffs,” Lonborg said. “It’s been around 10 years, I think, and we would like to change that this year.

“Our team speed has increased, and we have some good individual players on the team. We just need to figure out how to mesh all the different styles and how to use our individual talents to the best use team wise.”

Oak Harbor begins the season at home against Lakewood at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9.