MOSES LAKE — A young team can be equally inspiring and frustrating.

The potential for excellence is there, but only if it is activated.

Urging his players to work on their off-foot Monday afternoon in 90-degree heat, Moses Lake head coach Ricardo Char exclaimed, “That’s why they call it practice.”

Maximizing practice will be crucial for Moses Lake. The Chiefs field a young team for the second season in a row, with no seniors on the varsity roster.

“I’ve got first-year captains as well, I’ve got a couple good freshmen coming in so we hope to expand on our .500 season last year,” Char said.

Predictably with a young roster, Moses Lake experienced highs and lows in 2015 en route to a 7-9 overall record and a 6-6 record in the Columbia Basin Big Nine (CBBN). The Chiefs held a 6-2 league record before a four-game skid to end the season landed them in a play-in game against Davis.

The Chiefs fell to the Pirates 2-1, missing the state playoffs for the first time since 2011.

However, there is reason to be optimistic with key returning juniors and sophomores with a full year of varsity experience.

“That’s huge,” Char said. “We had a lot of first-time freshmen last year on varsity playing for this program for the first time and then they’re expected to have this huge responsibility playing on varsity. So having that one year under their belt they know what the expectations are. They’re still young, but that experience is going to help them in the long run.

“Our core group is a bunch of juniors so hopefully they can get this solid year in and continue that momentum into next year.”

That core group includes captains Abby Rathbun and Cora Bruneel. Rathbun — who is entering her third season on varsity — was first team all-league a season ago.

“Coming in freshman year I was really starstruck by the seniors,” she said. “Being on varsity, that was a big deal for me and I always looked up to the seniors and I used them to push myself everyday last year... More girls started looking up to me and this year being a captain and just going through everything with basketball too it just gained my confidence more and more every day. Having girls looking up to you, I’ve got to push myself to my limits every day.”

Other all-league returners include Madi Krogh, Taya Rogers, Morgan Skone and Denali Knowles.

After a trip to the state championship game in 2015, West Valley appears to be the premier team in the CBBN with Moses Lake, Wenatchee and Davis lurking.

Moses Lake’s season begins Saturday at Post Falls, and although the Chiefs might be a year away from contention, this team is unusually experienced for its youth and has plenty of talent.

“I’m really excited to see what we bring this season and it’s going to be fun,” Rathbun said.

Ephrata has bright future in CWAC

Despite going from a fourth place finish at the state tournament in 2014 to missing the state playoffs in 2015, Ephrata has a bright future in the Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC).

With a team comprised of mostly freshmen and sophomores, Ephrata advanced to a crossover game with East Valley (Spokane). More, Ephrata had three players selected all-league last year: Katelyn Ostrowski, Sarai Kibby and Amidy Gallagher.

The Tigers begin their season Saturday at Cashmere.

Othello will try and return to the district playoffs after missing the postseason in 2015. The Huskies return all-league defender Rilee Heist, all-league midfielder Elena Mendoza and all-league forward Kaylee Martinez.

Quincy will have an uphill climb after just one win in 2015. The Jacks will also have to replace their best player from last season, Gabby Flores.

Quincy begins its season Saturday on the road against Chelan.

Warden girls soccer returns to the Class 1A South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) East. The Cougars spent the past two seasons in Class 2B, although their schedule was mostly filled with 1A teams.

Warden will have to fill the goal-scoring void of Brenna Whitney and Jennifer Mendoza, who now both play for Wenatchee Valley College.

Warden hosts Okanogan Saturday, 11 a.m., in a rematch of the first round of last year’s state tournament.