The ACC coaches picked the women’s soccer team in their annual preseason poll to finish in 10th place out of eleven teams. That’s fine by junior captain Lindsay Vera. She said she and her teammates will just use it as motivation when they take the field this season as the regular underdog.

“I feel that people are going to be surprised by this team and we will surpass that ranking,” Vera said. “We will use [the prediction] to push us harder.”

Vera, the team’s lone All-ACC selection last season (she was second team), is one of only three upperclassmen on the squad, which includes fellow junior captain Tami Krzeszewski and senior captain Jessica O’Rourke. None of the three see the youth as reason to think they cannot perform well in the conference that is home to the defending national champions.

“I definitely feel like we can compete,” O’Rourke, the team’s only senior, said. “We have been right there in the past years, and all it takes is a little extra effort. We need people to take that extra step, go that extra mile, and do what it takes to win.”

Coach Laura Kerrigan echoed her senior’s sentiments and agreed that in past years the team was lacking just a few goals to advance to the NCAA tournament.

“The sky’s the limit as far as what we can accomplish this year,” she said. “In the last two years, scoring a goal here and scoring a goal there would have meant all the difference in the world.”

Now, with a 13-member freshman class aboard, the 10th-year coach said she has the players to go that extra mile her captain was talking about.

“Last year, with Clemson, we were tied 0-0 and then lost 1-0 in overtime. We had chances to score but didn’t. With this team, I think we score in those same situations,” Kerrigan said. “I’m very encouraged by how our offense is looking.”

O’Rourke said the team, with all of the new players, is not dwelling on last year’s eighth-place finish. “It’s pretty much a clean slate, with so many new girls here,” she said. “The girls who are returning as sophomores have really stepped it up, but we will have a lot of freshmen filling in spots. So it’s a new team.”

Kerrigan said this year’s team being different is not a bad thing, though.

“This is a very different team from what we had last year,” she said. “There is an energy about this team.”

Despite the starting line-up poised to be chock full of younger players, both of last year’s leading scorers, O’Rourke and Vera, respectively, will lead a team full of fresh faces and sophomores that now have a year’s worth of experience under their belt.

“We only have three upperclassmen, but these sophomores are experienced. They know what it’s like to play against UNC, Boston College and Florida State. It means a lot for them to have a full year under their belts, and they are stepping up now.”

In addition to the two leading scorers, Krzeszewski is another key part to the squad, according to Kerrigan, even if she doesn’t pile up eye-popping statistics like her fellow captains.

“Tami has been the workhorse of the team ever since she started playing here,” Kerrigan said. “There is no task she won’t do. If someone has to work back and win the ball, Tami will do it. If someone needs to create an opportunity and slip the ball through defenders, Tami will do it. The three captains will provide great leadership.”

One of the position battles is for the goalkeeper spot. After the graduation of last year’s starter, the competition has opened up to sophomore Sydney Little and freshman Rachel Barnette.

Neither Vera nor O’Rourke seemed concerned, though, saying both goalies are more than capable of helping the team win games. Little logged 110 minutes in two games last year and O’Rourke said that has made a huge difference in her teammate’s play.

“I feel very comfortable with [Little] back there,” O’Rourke said. “Over the past two years, she has impressed me so much. At the same time, Rachel has shown she has what it takes and she’s impressed.”

Kerrigan said the goalkeeper spot, although Little has an edge, is just like every other spot on the field and must be won on a game-to-game basis.

“No one’s position is safe. Everyone has to go out there everyday and win it,” Kerrigan said. “Any type of competitiveness in training will help you in games — it’s a battle out there.”