INDIANOLA, Iowa — Simpson women’s soccer looks to bounce back after hitting a rough patch, starting a season with two ties and one loss.

The season can only get better for Simpson women’s soccer, which is averaging one goal a game, and their only loss came by three goals.

Besides the one loss, Simpson’s defense performed well, and first-time keeper, Riley Adams, is holding her own after transitioning from forward.

Despite being ranked in the bottom of the conference, senior midfielder Meredith Harrison has a positive outlook on the season.

“I’m very excited for conference games,” Harrison said. “We are ranked eighth of nine in the conference, which is accurate according to the results of our games last year. Other teams in our conference are going to expect to play against an eighth ranked team, but we have such a young, fresh new team that we will catch them off guard. I feel some upsets coming our way.”

A few freshmen start, and more come into the game as a set of fresh legs. While there are many newcomers, the team gets along well.

“We all get along so well and our humor and goals are aligned perfectly,” Harrison said. “We are all here to play college soccer, and we understand that and want to be the team we know we can be for every game. “

When she was a freshman, Harrison stepped in and played where they needed her because the team consisted of talented veterans. This year, the upper class is thinner, and the team will be relying on freshman to play major roles on offense and defense.

This means the team has a lot of room to improve throughout the season. While the year may have started rough, look for the freshmen on the women’s soccer team to get acclimated to the college soccer environment and come back from their slow start.

Junior Taylor Vaudt has as much confidence in the team as Harrison, and they both say chemistry is key.

“Our team chemistry is at its strongest when we connect to feet,” Vaudt said. “You create strong opportunities when doing this. When we are playing our style of soccer any team should be scared to play against us.

“To continue our chemistry’s growth, we need to continue to focus on what we are good at and build upon it. I have high hopes for this season.”

Both Harrison and Vaudt think this team can finish in the middle, or even around the top, of the conference. The team starts conference play Sept. 24 at Wartburg, which will be the first test to see how they will stack up against the Iowa Conference.