Last season, Montour boys' soccer coach Alex Hobbs had his full complement of starter's injury free for exactly one game: the first game of the season when the Spartans defeated host South Fayette, 2-1, in a tournament.

After that, injuries riddled the Spartans lineup and forced Hobbs, in his first full year as coach, to shuffle his lineup constantly.

Avoiding the injury bug will be key to Montour improving on a disappointing 2007 campaign. The Spartans finished 5-12-3 overall and finished sixth in eight-team Section 3-AA. The injuries really started taking their toll on Montour at the end of the season as it went 0-6-1 to close out the year.

"As of right now the team seems pretty focused on what we need to do," Hobbs said of the Spartans, ranked ninth in the preseason by the Post-Gazette in Class AA. "The mind-set seems to be let's not have another repeat season."

Montour returns most of its starters from last year, but it will have to replace nearly the entire defense. Returning at forward are seniors Tom Birko and Jordan Menni. The Spartans also will rely on an experienced midfield that features seniors Stephen Taslov and Sammy Colosimo and juniors Brent Luzik and Patrick Connell.

Montour opened the season with a 3-2 win against Class A powerhouse Sewickley Academy in what Hobbs described before the game as an important litmus test for his team. Montour lost to Sewickley Academy, 4-1, last season. Sewickley Academy went 25-1-2 and captured WPIAL and PIAA titles.

The Spartans played at Waynesburg Central Tuesday and came away with a 6-0 win. They will host Washington at 7:30 tonight.

"We are going to have to finish this year," said Hobbs, who watched his team drop seven one-goal games last year. "We had plenty of opportunities and our focus for the entire summer and in camp has been finishing. Hopefully it can be a two-goal difference and we win one-goal games instead of having one-goal losses,"

The new-look defensive line consists of seniors Matthew Bellay, Aaron Pacheco, Paul Metzler and junior Daniel Blumling. Bellay was a forward last year, but has made the switch to try and help shore up the defense.

Hobbs is looking at two goalkeepers now with returning starter Andrew Krall and newcomer Nick Zuk, who played volleyball last year. Hobbs expects senior outside midfielder Jared Lucht to provide an offensive spark off the bench. Senior Greg Lowden will see time on defense and freshman Nate Kanuch can come in the game at either midfield or forward.

Hobbs said he has a strong freshman class and expects many of them, along with the sophomores, to work their way into the lineup as the year goes on. Two juniors, Julian Givi and Connor Lewellyn, saw playing time last year and can pick up roles in the midfield or defense.

"Definitely our experience will be big this year. We bring a lot of starters back and a will to win," Hobbs said.

"These guys really came together over the summer and in camp and have really proven that they are not going to be beat easily this year. Working together has to be the No. 1 goal. Individually, we are very strong, but it is working as a team that we really put a lot emphasis on."