Grueling heat and a busy schedule kicked off the fall soccer season at Northwest College, as the Trapper women return key players from last year’s team that went 10-8.

The team returns nine players from last season, including leading scorer Pressly Taylor from Boise, Idaho, who scored 14 goals and had nine assists her freshman campaign.

Northwest also returns another forward in Abby Derbyshire from Billings who had nine goals and six assists last year.

Throughout the field the Trappers return additional talented players, including Anina Gut from Switzerland in goal alongside Ashley Measles, Sam Bonar and Riley Noles in defense from Gillette.

In the midfield the Trappers also return Olivia Bradley from Riverton, Summer Lily-Robinson from the United Kingdom and Tessa Hyland from New Zealand.

“That’s something we haven’t had since I’ve been back,” coach Rob Hill said. “We usually have two or three sophomores but this year we have a good set that have been around the other sophomores last year. They have the experience that we need to help the freshmen.”

That group has been able to mesh quickly alongside the incoming freshmen, which includes six Wyoming recruits, two Idaho recruits, one Utah recruit and a couple of international students.

“This has been a very good group that has jelled very quickly,” Hill said. “In recruiting we tried to really push for the right people, the right character — that has shown how quickly they have meshed compared to last year’s group.”

He said that the team has been able to have a consistent chemistry both on and off the field, with Hill saying that some of the freshmen are also showing leadership abilities early on in practice.

“I think we have a very strong group in that respect, it’s been nice,” Hill said.

Having now practiced for roughly a week, the Trappers will be put to the test, with a busy week in Montana kicking off on Saturday.

That first game will be against Rocky Mountain College at 1 p.m., starting a flurry of scrimmages for the Trappers before the regular season begins in two weeks’ time.

Northwest will then continue through Montana, heading to Helena to take on Carroll College at 11 a.m. on Monday, and capping off the road trip with a visit to the University of Providence in Great Falls at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

“It’s always an experience for the freshmen to understand what college-level play is like,” Hill said. “Most of them are coming off playing high school and maybe some club. The physicality, they’re going to have to get used to the different refereeing at high school and the pace of play.”

He said that there are going to be a lot of mistakes this first week, but he expects the main goal of the team to be playing in a competitive match and getting used to each other to try and get on the same page.

“Reviewing the film is always going to be an integral part of it,” Hill said. “We’re not just playing their junior varsity team, that’s going to be the biggest factor for them is learning the pace and physicality. The referees let the game flow more than high school so that will be interesting for them.”