RICHMOND

Thirteen wins out of 14. Class D dominance. A sixth straight regional title. A state championship.

If there’s any team that can follow up these kind of accolades, it’s the Richmond High School girls soccer team.

The Bobcats kicked off their season with a scrimmage against Wiscasset on Tuesday night and will be again reaching for Class D South glory. But, they’ll have to do it with a relatively new squad, as coach Troy Kendrick lost six starters from last year’s title-winning team.

“The goal is to get those kids assimilated to the style that we play,” Kendrick said. “Short passing, possession type game. Lot of youngsters, so it’s just trying to get those kids up to speed — get them on the same page.”

Newly selected captains Meranda Martin, Camryn Hurley, Cassidy Harriman and Emily Carver will be providing the leadership and, according to Kendrick, have been “doing an outstanding job” communicating and getting the younger players ready for the campaign.

After scoring 87 goals in the regular season last year, one of the big questions surrounding the Bobcats is where the goals will come from. One answer, says Kendrick, is to cash in on good chances — they may be coming in smaller numbers this season, so it’ll be important to make them count.

The other answer comes on the other side of the pitch. Richmond conceded just eight regular-season goals in 2015 (three coming in the lone loss to Sacopee Valley), and Kendrick expects the sturdy back line to dictate games this fall.

“We focus on defense,” he said. “We want to be stingy defensively. I’m guessing the goals could be coming a little harder this year, and we’ve got to make goals stand out. As usual, we’re trying to build out of the back.”

The Bobcats will be traveling a lot early in the schedule, visiting Rangeley in the opener on Saturday (11 a.m.), St. Dom’s on Thursday (4 p.m.) and Vinalhaven on Sept. 10 (11 a.m.). The long awaited rematch with Sacopee Valley comes on Oct. 6 at 4 p.m., but Kendrick is far more interested in evaluation than he is revenge.

“We’ve got St. Dom’s, which is an outstanding Class C team, pretty early in the season and then we have Sacopee. Those two games are kind of going to be measuring sticks for us, I think,” Kendrick said. “I think those are two of the stronger teams in Class C, so we’re certainly going to have our hands full with those clubs.”

While a repeat state title

certainly isn’t expected of Kendrick’s side, a successful season just might be. Soccer headlines Richmond sports in the fall, and like every year, all eyes will be on the pitch. For Kendrick, especially with a younger group, it’s important to stay in the now.

“I try to keep the kids away from that,” he said of the pressure to succeed. “With the culture of soccer at Richmond, that’s the good and the bad side of having a pretty solid program. We want to do well, we want to qualify for the postseason. Sometimes, I try to not go too big picture with the kids. Winning a state championship every year is kind of unrealistic and it’s asking a lot of the kids.”

Also prone to success is Peter Gardner and the Richmond boys team, which capped off an undefeated season with a state championship in 2014. Despite four losses, last season’s campaign ended with a run to the regional final, where the Bobcats fell 1-0 to rival Buckfield.

In a similar setup to last season, this year’s schedule features a home (Sept. 20) and away (season finale on Oct. 18) with the Bucks, who Richmond is even in scoring (five goals) with in the last five meetings.

Along with gunning to defeat Buckfield for the first time in over a year, Richmond will be focused on a strong finish to the season. After winning six out of its first seven matches in 2015, Gardner’s squad dropped three of its last six heading into the postseason.

The new campaign begins tomorrow with a visit to Rangeley at 1 p.m.

Brunswick

Both Dragons’ squads will be looking to replicate successful regular seasons that ended in postseason defeats.

Mark Roma’s boys squad, who reeled off five straight wins to end the 2015 regular season and finish 10-3-1, kicks things off with a road match at Mt. Blue today, 5 p.m. Consistency will be key this year, as an 0-2-1 stint in the middle of the season blemished an otherwise strong season.

The Dragons will again face Class A champion Lewiston (Sept. 20), Hampden

Academy (Sept. 23) and Bangor (Sept. 27) in that same middle-of-the-season stretch this year.

Martyn Davidson will be hoping his girls side can be in even better form heading into the payoffs this year than they were last fall. After dropping just two games (Camden Hills 4-3 and Bangor 2-0), Brunswick was upset by Hampden Academy, which it defeated 3-0 in the first meeting, in the playoffs.

Davidson will again be relying on the defense, which gave up just three goals in the final nine matches of the year.

The Dragons host Mt. Blue today at 3:30 p.m.

Mt. Ararat

It was a strong start to his first season at the boys soccer helm for Jack Rioux, but the Eagles stumbled into last year’s postseason on four straight setbacks before falling to Edward Little (2-1) in a Class A North prelim.

This time around, the Eagles will be tested with four road games in less than two weeks in the middle of the season. They’ll face “Battle of the Bridge” rival Brunswick, which outscored the Eagles 6-1 in 2015, on Sept. 13 and Oct. 12.

A rematch with Edward Little is set for 3 p.m. today in Topsham.

Sam Chard’s girls side will be on the road at Edward Little today (3:30 p.m.), a fixture that ended in a 2-2 draw a year ago.

Mt. Ararat put together a solid 8-5-1 campaign and knocked off Messalonskee in the playoffs before getting blanked by Camden Hills in the Class A North regional semifinal.

The Eagles were anything but inconsistent, giving up no more than three goals all season and scoring more than three just twice.

Morse

Steve Boyce’s girls side won almost half its games last season, but were short on goals in the final stretch. After putting up four in a win over Belfast, the Shipbuilders mustered just one score in the final four matches of the year.

Ultimately, it led to a 1-0 loss to Lincoln Academy in the Class B South prelim.

Morse will have a chance to get back at the Eagles Tuesday at 5 p.m. in the season opener in Newcastle.

A 4-9-1 mark wasn’t good enough for a playoff berth for Chuck Reece’s boys side, which struggled for goals all season. Only six times did the Shipbuilders score more than one goal, and they were shut out five times.

Reece will be looking for more production in the final third this season, which starts under the lights at Lincoln Academy on Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Freeport

Boys coach Joe Heathco will have 11 upperclassmen at his disposal this season, as the Falcons attempt to rebound from a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime loss to Cape Elizabeth in a Class B South prelim last year. The key for the Falcons will be replacing the defense, which saw all four starters move on.

The season begins today against North Yarmouth Academy, then continues with two home games against Fryeburg Academy (Tuesday) and Wells (Sept. 10)

If Freeport wants to improve on a 4-8-2 record, it’ll need to be in strong form come the end of the schedule, as the last two fixtures are on the road at Cape Elizabeth and Yarmouth.

Elayna Girardin’s girls group fell winless in the final four games of 2015, scoring just three goals and finishing short of the postseason at 3-9-2. The defense will need some bolstering in the new campaign, as the Falcons conceded four or more goals five times.

Girardin and company will visit Fryeburg Academy at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday before heading to Traip Academy on Sept. 10.

Lisbon

An 8-6 mark was good enough for a prelim for the Lisbon boys side, but the result was a 2-1 loss to Traip.

A tough road stretch gave the Greyhounds fits at the end of last year, losing three of its final four matches. This year though, after Dan Sylvester’s team gets through an early stretch away from home (Oak Hill Tuesday, Dirigo Sept. 10, Wiscasset Sept. 12), they’ll finish with three-of-four in Lisbon.

One team the Greyhounds won’t have to worry about this season is St. Dom’s, which moved back into the Western Maine Conference with the likes of Freeport and Falmouth.

Things get started for Sylvester’s squad today at Mountain Valley, 4 p.m.

On the girls side, first-year coach Brian Dube will be looking to get Lisbon back to the postseason — last year’s Greyhounds also finished 8-6 and knocked off Carrabec in a prelim before Madison took them out in the quarterfinals, 3-1.

The good news for Dube is he is inheriting a stout defense that pitched four shutouts during the regular season.

He’ll be on the road for his debut today at 4 p.m. against Mountain Valley.

Wiscasset

Last year was a long one for Duane Goud and the Wolverines, who dropped 11- out-of-12 games before turning the tide late.

Goud will be hoping that coming out on top in last year’s season finale against Boothbay (1-0) will provide a spark for this year.

Wiscasset will battle the Seahawks again today at 4 p.m. in Boothbay.

It’ll be much of the same for Chris Cossette on the boys side, which opens its campaign Tuesday at home against Carrabec.

A turnaround this time around will start with avoiding a poor start — it was October before the Wolverines picked up their first win against Oak Hill (3-0). Specifically, Cossette will be looking for goals. Just five were scored during the seven-game losing streak to start the campaign.

Wiscasset is gunning for its first postseason appearance since 2013.