Coach: Ed Schulte, 3rd season

2006 Season: 0-17 (0-12 North East Michigan Conference)

Returning players: Cody Anderson, sr.; John Blair, sr.; Jessica Hamacher, sr.; Tim Marsh, sr.; Derrick Melrose, sr.; Ashleigh Schulte, sr.; Ron Ashton, jr.; Lukas Earl, jr.; David LaPoint, jr.

Outlook: The Cardinals lost just five seniors to graduation, but will still field the least experienced team in the NEMC as 11 of the 20 athletes on the roster are first-year players at the high school level.

"Most of these kids played youth soccer," says W-P coach Ed Schulte. "But for most of them there's been a couple of years since then, so there is definitely a gap in experience.

Six seniors return to try to improve the Cards' fortunes: Cody Anderson, John Blair, Jessica Hamacher, Tim Marsh, Derrick Melrose and Ashleigh Schulte. They also gain a first-time senior in Sean Siegrist, whose athleticism should help on the learning curve he'll experience.

"Sean's got potential to do some things," Schulte says. "But it does take some time to learn to know where to be, when to pass the ball and when to keep it."

The Cards' schedule to start the season is challenging, with Ogemaw Heights and Tawas Area the first two teams they'll play.

"It's kind of a tough way to start the year, but hopefully it will pay off," Schulte says. "We might take our lumps, but we'll get some playing time and really see where we need to get some work. Then when we play some teams that we're more competitive with, we won't be experimenting and hopefully score a few goals.

"It's a good bunch of kids. They're upbeat, they play hard, they give it their all and they stay by each other's side."