It’s a good thing the Lawrence High boys soccer team begins its season tonight. Coach Keith Nelson might not be able to wait much longer.

“I’m so excited,” he said during Wednesday’s practice. “I was lying awake last night in bed, just thinking about what we can do.”

The Lions return just four starters from last year’s 6-11 squad, but it’s the five players Nelson wasn’t expecting this season that have him so excited.

Exchange students and transfers have given the Lions’ roster three players Nelson expects to excel this season. In turn, he expects his team to excel, too.

“I’m happy with the guys we have coming back, no doubt, but we weren’t going to be great until we got these guys,” he said.

Those guys  Oscar Ortega, Ibrahim Bah and David Abreu  come in with the skill and ball creativity necessary to jumpstart the Lions’ offense. Ortega, a transfer from California, has good quickness around the ball, while Bah, who’s from Gambia, can flat out run. Abreu, an exchange student from Brazil, may be the Lions’ most skilled player. But for all their gifts, just replacing graduated seniors Jamie Peterson and Joey Kelly would be a nice start.

That is, if the team chemistry is there.

Sometimes the addition of several new players disrupts a team’s communication, but senior captain Josh Yurick said that hasn’t been a problem so far.

If anything, he’s more excited about the prospects the new guys bring.

“This is by far the most skillful team we’ve had at Lawrence High since I’ve been here,” Yurick said. “And it’s the team that’s the most together.”

The Lions will find out tonight just how everything fits together in their season opener against Manhattan High at 7 p.m. at Youth Sports Inc.

“The team we’re playing’s stacked,” Nelson said. “They will be superb.”

With the early start, the Lions have plenty of time to tweak the lineup and improve their cohesion if things don’t go well tonight. Nelson won’t make predictions for the season, but he’s certainly optimistic about developing team chemistry.

Isn’t he?

“I can’t say that I know,” he said. “Only time will tell. All the kids know what’s expected of them. They know what’s expected of them on the field and they know what their role is.”

Free State

The Firebirds excelled last season, going 12-6-1 and reaching the Class 6A state quarterfinals for the first time in school history.

The catch is, coach Jason Pendleton won’t settle for anything less this season.

“We’re well past the stage of moral victories,” Pendleton said. “Those that are the returners should be of that mindset. I would hope that the feeling of competitiveness will transcend from last year.”

His senior goalkeeper, Justin Howell, is more direct.

“Moral victories mean nothing to us,” Howell said. “Losing 4-0 is the same as losing 1-0. They’re both just losses.”

For Free State to match last year’s success, the Firebirds will have to replace two key elements of last year’s team in midfielder Nick Giannakis, who Pendleton called the Firebirds’ best athlete, and forward Nick Ens, the leading goal scorer in school history.

“Anytime you lose a kid that scored 20 goals in a season is going to hurt you,” Pendleton said.

It will fall on the Firebirds’ young players to fill that void. Two freshmen, Aaron Ideus and Jeff Stebbins join the nine seniors and eight juniors on the varsity roster. Pendleton expects them to contribute immediately.

Ideus, who can play midfield or forward, has a chance to start the Sept. 10 season opener against KC Washington, while Stebbins, a forward, could see lots of playing time simply because of his speed.

As for the rest of the starting lineup, it’s Howell’s third year as the starting keeper, and he’s accompanied by sweeper Cameron Baumchen, right fullback Paul Becker and left fullback Ben Marshall. Of the four, only Marshall isn’t a senior, so experience should be a plus.

Junior Joe Angelone, who scored 10 goals last season, starts at forward along with senior Bryan Spangler, who may the team’s fastest player. Spangler played defensive midfield last season, and, depending on the opponent, could be switched there again for some games.

Senior Kayvon Sarraf returns as the attacking midfielder and senior Zak Spears will probably play defensive midfield, but the rest of the halfback starting slots are up for grabs. Depending on the next few weeks, and the two Saturday scrimmages before the first game, anyone could have those spots.

Pendleton expects that depth to make the Firebirds better by season’s end, and thinks they are already “more skillfull and faster than last season.”

Now if they can only get through four weeks of practices without playing any games. That’s a whole lot of Pendleton.

“I’m a yeller and a screamer, the kids know that,” he said. “They know that despite that, I care about them. By the time the season starts, there won’t be any lulls, and I think that’s helpful.”