BATH

Nearly every season, high school sports teams lose players to graduation or other endeavors.

At Morse High School, the loss of quality field hockey athletes has been followed by a coaching carousel that has seen the Shipbuilders play under four coaches in the past five years.

This year, Kerri Reno becomes the fifth coach in six seasons for Morse field hockey, taking over for Stephanie Pinkham after Morse finished 1-13 and missed the postseason for the 13th consecutive year.

Reno, who played field hockey at Morse under longtime leader Linda Levesque from 1996-99, hopes to turn around the program and challenge for a playoff spot this season.

“I am hoping to bring some consistency here and push the Shipbuilders into being a playoff contender,” said the mother of Kiley, 8, and Jackson, 4, with husband A.J.

Reno, a graduate of the University of Southern Maine with degrees in Social Behavior Sciences and Education, was a four-year varsity player under Levesque.

“We never were as successful as we could have been, and we just never were able to complete a consistent season,” Reno remembers.

History hasn’t been kind to Morse field hockey, which has a record of 31-158-6 since 2001, the last season the Shipbuilders played in the postseason (a 1-0 quarterfinal loss to Oxford Hills that year). Coaches have come and gone, starting with Brittany Chadbourne in 2010, followed by Julie St. Pierre in 2011, Johanna Stanton in 2012, and a pair of seasons under Pinkham (2013-14). Morse has won just five times over the past five seasons and was outscored 79-10 last season after being shut out eight times.

“We really want to move forward,” said Reno, who feels she has a solid group of players in camp this season, including several incoming freshmen. “The challenge is to get used to a new voice, something these players are used to. My assistant and jayvee coach, Natasha Jacobs (2013 Morse graduate) played for three coaches in four years.

“We have started off with a lot of dedication from the players, with the freshmen jumping right into the program. We have some goals as we move forward.”

Playing in what will surely be a challenging region in Class B North in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, Morse will be pushed early with a road contest at Lincoln Academy to open the regular season Sept. 3. After a visit to Lawrence on Sept. 8, the Shipbuilders open their home slate on Sept. 10 against Gardiner, Sept. 12 against Leavitt and Sept. 15 versus Erskine Academy.

Offensively, Reno is working with her Shipbuilders on bringing the attack to opponents.

One change is switching from a three-player front line to a four-person attack.

“We want to bring more offense,” said the coach. “Our mindset is on defense, defense, defense, but we also expect to attack more. We have worked on our ball-handling skills and finding ways to get the ball into the air. We will have to adjust to how games are being called with regards to balls in the air being dangerous.

“I expect a lot of heart and desire, and our hopes are to win more than we did last year and push for the playoffs. I feel this close-knit group can accomplish these goals.”

The loss of graduated goaltender Bryanna Ringrose is an early challenge for Reno.

During the past few seasons, Ringrose was peppered with shots, and in most games she made double-digit saves in trying to keep her team in games.

“I think by being able to spread the field along out mid-lines that we will have more success in keeping the ball out of dangerous spots near our goal,” added Reno, who is an education technician at Morse High School.