When N.C. State takes the soccer field this Friday against Western Carolina, it will be the beginning of the final season for nine Wolfpack seniors.

For one of those seniors, goalie Megan Connors, it will be a sweet return to the starting role she once knew.

After starting right away as a freshman, then again as a sophomore, Connors saw action in only three games last season. She could only look on as now-departed goaltender Kim Selz won the job and then she never relinquished the starting role.

“I had a little slip-up; I lost the position — it happens,” Connors said.

Throughout her junior year, Connors tried to help her teammate in much the same way she had received help when she was the starter and Selz was the reserve goalie.

“Kim had a great season last season and I was fully supportive of her the way she was supportive of me my freshman and sophomore year,” Connors said. “I knew that she would need that support from me.”

Coach Laura Kerrigan said she couldn’t be happier with the way her goalie has approached this year’s practice, with more focus than ever.

“It was something that doesn’t sit well with Megan now, in a good way. She came back this year hungrier and a little bit pissed. She wanted that job back, and she felt it was hers to win and she did,” Kerrigan said. “She trained harder this summer than she has in the past and that’s going to make a difference.”

Now that experience serves to remind Connors to not take her job for granted.

“I know what it’s like to play and I know what it’s like to be the backup so I’ve gotten to be a better player, be a better person [and] be a better leader,” Connors said.

Like Selz was last year, Connors is both a senior and the last line of defense — and with that comes dual leadership roles.

“I’m ready for it,” Connors said. “Being the position I am a leader, and being a senior that makes me more of a leader. I try to incorporate the freshmen and try get everybody involved in team chemistry and all that because it’s going to make a difference when we step onto the field.”

The New Jersey native has averaged less than four saves per 31 matches (120 total), while allowing 46 goals. But according to Kerrigan, Connors is a much different player than she was in earlier days.

“She’s improved tremendously, her range is so much greater than it was when she got in. She’s a lot fitter than she was and much more muscular . . . which makes her quicker,” Kerrigan said. “She’s more confident coming out for balls, more confident punching balls.”

Connors has also posted nine shutouts in her career but may have to replicate that stat for the Pack to be successful. Seven times last season, the Pack lost to a score of 1-0, leaving little room for error at the goalkeeper position.

“There’s always pressure, if they mess up on the field it might not result in a goal but if I mess up, the goal’s right behind me,” Connors said. “We have a lot of new freshmen who are really going to put some balls in the net.”