KENNEBUNK — Members of the Kennebunk boys lacrosse team use a variety of words when asked to describe their 2013 season.

Head coach Dan Seavey goes with “roller coaster.” Midfielder Nicco DeLorenzo called it “up and down.” Goalie Ben Bath simply said “inconsistent.”

It’s an acknowledgment to the Rams’ ambitions, then, that last season wasn’t actually all that bad ”“ a 9-3 regular-season record, two playoff wins and an appearance in the Western Class A regional final for the second consecutive season.

But for this group of players, and especially this year’s seniors, that wasn’t nearly enough. As senior attackman Tyler Elkington explained when asked about expectations this season, the end target for the Rams’ this spring isn’t another runner-up plaque:

“Our goal is the top. The same as it was last year, the same as it’s always been: a championship.”

If Kennebunk, a school with a proud lacrosse tradition but zero state titles, is to reach that end goal, there may be no better time than the present to get it done.

The 2014 Rams return nine of 10 starters from last season, including the entire attack and nearly all of the midfield corps. That includes Elkington, the scorer of 39 goals and a state-leading 39 assists a year ago, as well as senior Josh Hussey with 27 goals and 14 assists and junior Jake Boothby who had 29 goals.

Pat Gassman turned into one of the most efficient face-off men in the state as a freshman last year, at times dominating the draw circle, and was one of only five players in the state to total more than 100 ground balls, while the senior midfield trio of Bryce Frasier, Ryan Keefe and Pat Rimmer all return after hitting double-digits in goals scored a year ago.

DeLorenzo, a four-year starter, returns to lead the defense from the long-stick midfielder position, while Bath, another four-year starter who compiled a 4.53 goals against average last season, should again be one of the state’s top goalies.

All in all, it’s not a bad starting point for Seavey, in his third year as head coach, who expects his job to be slightly easier after the growing pains his younger team went through at times last year.

“It helps to have these guys who we’ve teaching things for four years, because the best coach is not us, it’s the players on the field coaching the other guys,” Seavey said. “The younger guys listen to the older guys, and it’s like having five or six more assistants. It’s great to have those guys with all that experience coming back, opposed to showing up and not knowing what you have.”

That was more the case last spring, when the Rams returned a talented though inexperienced squad after graduating a bulk of its 2012 regional finalist’s team, including seven of its top eight scorers.

It wasn’t a problem for the first half of last season as Kennebunk scored 100 goals in running up an 8-0 record, but the Rams then ran into trouble during the meat of the schedule, scoring just four total goals in losses to Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth before falling in overtime to South Portland.

They rebounded for playoff wins over Thornton Academy and South Portland, but were convincingly beaten by Scarborough in the regional championship game.

“It’s really black and white this year compared to last year,” Elkington said. “Last year, we were just trying to figure our stuff out. We had never played together and it was midseason, and we were still getting used to each other.

“This year, we can start off right where we ended because everyone’s still here and we don’t miss a beat. Offensively, that will help with chemistry, and hopefully that turns into consistency.”

Consistency throughout games, as well as the season at large, is something Seavey is hoping for this season after his team time and time again fell into first-half holes in 2013, including two- and four-goal second-half deficits in the playoff games against Thornton and South Portland, respectively.

“We’re trying to do a better job of getting them into game speed before they hit the field,” Seavey said. “We turned the motor on in the third quarter; almost every game, we won the third quarter and dominated most of the fourth quarter. If we can play like that throughout the whole game, we’d be much better off.”

The players know it’s a puzzle only they can solve.

“We had a lot of games where we started out slow, and we need to start getting out on the right foot in the first half,” Bath said. “We need to play four quarters, and it’s all about being prepared for the start of the game.”

Preparation is especially crucial this season as Kennebunk makes the transition from Class A to Class B, a move down that is in actuality a big step up in competition.

Long-time rivals Thornton and Scarborough have been moved off the schedule, but they’ve been replaced with perennial powers Falmouth, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth Academy and Cheverus, while Cape, South Portland and Greely remain.

In all, nine of Kennebunk’s 12 games will come against teams that made the playoffs a season ago, including all six road games, a brutal slate that nonetheless is viewed as a positive.

“It’s going to be fun, because it’s increased competition and it will help in the long run being battle tested and ready for the playoffs,” Elkington said. “Last year, the schedule wasn’t as tough, so we might not have been ready. This year, we hope we will be.”

“I like this year because it’s a lot of really good teams so you can stay on the high level all season,” added Seavey. “We could go 8-4 and be a much better team than last year.”

An 8-4 regular season record would coincidentally be the worst since this year’s senior class arrived at the high school. But if it prepares the Rams to do what no other squad in school history has done and win the three or four games that really matter in June, it would be well worth it.

“I’ve thought this about this senior class since they were freshmen ”“ there’s something special about them,” Seavey said. “They went to the state championship in football, they did well in other sports all the way through, and I knew that when they were coming up.

“They’re a tight group, all very talented, and the biggest thing is they want to win and hate losing. The past two years got to them, and I think they’re really hungry. But it comes down to showing up to play. It’s in their hands now.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected].