Last season the goal was to reach the playoffs for a ninth consecutive year. Mount Pleasant accomplished that easily, capturing its first section title in the short 11-year history of the program.

This year, with all starters back from that 16-win season, the Vikings, the Post-Gazette's No. 3-ranked team, are poised for bigger things.

Regular-season accomplishments were numerous for Mount Pleasant last season. It opened with 10 consecutive victories, went unbeaten until the 17th game of the season, snapped Greensburg Central Catholic's four-year section unbeaten streak and won the Section 6-AA title outright.

None of that mattered, though, in the postseason and the Vikings were surprised in the first round of the playoffs by Deer Lakes, 2-1.

"We obviously have higher expectations this year," coach Kelli Belanger said. "Everyone is coming back. The goal is no longer to make the playoffs but obviously to make a deeper run."

One of the things that may have hurt Mount Pleasant was dealing with adversity. Its first loss did not come until the second-to-last game of the regular season.

This year the Vikings found themselves dealing with a loss right out of the gate as they lost their season opener to Class AAA Latrobe, 1-0.

Then they lost their section opener Wednesday to Greensburg Central Catholic, 1-0, in overtime.

"We had some tough games last year that we came out on the good end but we never had to handle adversity. We lost [our season opener] this year and it will be interesting to see how the girls pick it up," Belanger said.

Belanger has been with the program since its inception. She was an assistant for the first six years and has been head coach the past six. In that time the Vikings have never qualified for state playoffs, but Belanger thinks this team has what it takes to bring more firsts to the program.

Even though all the names remain the same, the lineup has a different look with players who missed time because of injury returning and Belanger shuffling some of the positions.

One of the moves saw former forward Nicole Malara moved to defense. She scored eight goals last season but now Belanger will count on her to bolster the defense.

"We are a different team than last year," four-year starter Brianna Dombrosky said.

"I think we are a lot closer this year and we have a big group of seniors. We all really want to do well this year and leave it all on the field and see how far we can go."

Malara and junior Jessica Walton will lead a defense that plays in front of returning goalkeeper Sarah Brown. She had a hand in eight Mount Pleasant shutouts last season.

Junior Ashley Formato returns at forward. She led the Vikings with 30 goals last season. A new addition to the starting lineup is senior Jarah Long. She missed last season with a concussion she sustained in the preseason.

Dombrosky and her younger sister, Alyssa, will start in the midfield. Dombrosky scored 15 goals last season and added 18 assists. She is the school's all-time career assist leader with 46.

"Last season was definitely disappointing to end so quickly," Dombrosky said.

"We came out this season with good attitudes and we came out ready to work hard."

The Vikings will return to action tomorrow in a non-section match at Connellsville.