With six returning seniors and 10 freshmen coming on board, Coach Eric Kapan said the Libby Lady Loggers soccer team has “a lot of potential.”

Acknowledging the team has gone winless in recent years, he noted a tie and some close games last year proved that the team can be competitive.

Kapan, who takes over coaching this season after Jay Forsyth’s departure, has lived in Libby for about 19 years and spent the last few years coaching in the soccer recreation and club league. As a result he’s watched many of his players progress over time and said he knows them to be “driven ladies” who “all get good grades.”

Even though he already knew most of the team, he still visited with each player ahead of the season. In addition to sharing with them his coaching philosophy, he handed out a questionnaire that asked, among other questions, what their expectations are for the team.

Remarkably, he said, most want to see the team come together and be like family.

“(They’re) all on the same page,” Kapan said. “It makes my job a lot easier.”

Kapan noted that team leaders Isabelle Martineau and Abbie Creighton, best friends who have played together for as long as he’s known them, “obviously understand the game.”

“They know not to be selfish with the ball,” he said. “(They’re) unselfish with positions (and) they go where you need them to.”

When asked to name up-and-comers, Kapan declined to single out individual players, instead highlighting the team’s cohesiveness — he said many have been playing various sports together “for a long time” — as an underlying reason for its potential.

Kapan was still assessing the conference when asked his thoughts on it, though he said that Belgrade, “always a powerhouse,” had lost half its starting squad.

“But they have a lot of sophomores,” he said.