PRIEST RIVER — The Priest River boys soccer team has been waiting over 10 months to get back on the pitch and put the struggles of the 2020 season behind them.

The Spartans will finally get that chance when they open their 2021 campaign at Orofino on Tuesday, Aug. 24 at 3 p.m.

Last fall, the team struggled to field 11 players for most of the season. But this year, things are much different.

The Spartans will have 16 players available to play on opening day. Second-year head coach Daryl Hall said his team desperately wanted to avoid being shorthanded again this season.

"My kids have been doing some serious recruiting over the last year," he said. "They've done a phenomenal job."

All 11 players on last year's team are back this fall and they are determined to change the narrative of the program, Hall said.

"Priest River soccer has been where it is for how long and right now we have a chance to kind of push out from where we've been and into untested waters really," he said.

All-league returners Bowen Fegert and Erik Deem, and Shane Gamber, who tallied 13 goals in 2020, are now seniors and they hope to lead the program to places it hasn't been in recent years.

The Spartans went 2-11 last year and fell to Grangeville in the district tournament. Their record wasn't indicative of the progress they made throughout the season, Hall said.

"We improved leaps and bounds every game so I'm excited to see where they're at now and where we are going to be at the end of the season," he said.

In the spring, Hall was able to convince a handful of players to join the track team, including all of his forwards. Deem, Gamber, Bradley Gleason, Jimmie Isenberger and Caleb McDermeit all competed on the track team.

Hall said seniors like Deem and Fegert have started to take the younger players under their wing and are showing them the way they want to leave the program.

In the first week of practice, the Spartans didn't even touch a soccer ball. Hall was completely focused on conditioning.

"I've been hitting them really hard on cardio," he said.

Given how small the team was at times last year, Hall said it's been a little strange having so many players, but it's been great to separate the team into groups based on their position.

Hall said this group has an extremely positive attitude and he just wants them to hone in on giving their all every match. He doesn't want them to worry about winning because victories will come if they continue to put in the work on and off the field.

The players have already expressed to Hall how badly they want to get state sweatshirts this fall, and they are eager to take the field against the Maniacs on Tuesday, he said.

"They are all very thirsty and they want to show everybody what they've done," he said.

The Spartans' home opener is next Thursday, Aug. 26, against Stillwater Christian School.