It’s the year of the youth for city high school girls soccer squads.

Look around Lawrence High, Free State and Seabury Academy, and you’ll notice rosters sprinkled with freshmen and sophomores.

It could mean a bright future for all three teams, but none of the coaches is ready to say that this season will be a struggle.

“I think we’ve got quality kids,” FSHS coach Jason Pendleton said. “I think it’s going to be a good season. Hopefully, we’ll control what we can control.”

For the Firebirds, the goals are to improve on last season’s 6-11 record and maybe capture the school’s first sub-state victory.

To do so, Free State has to replace a few talented seniors from last year, notably Meredith Mayo and Celese Siebert.

“They’re tough to replace,” Pendleton said, “but we have a good nucleus of athletic kids.”

Free State’s most notable impact player appears to be senior Rebekah Berkley. As a junior, Berkley notched a team-high 17 goals and added four assists. She earned all-state honors and looks to be one of the Sunflower League’s top threats this time around.

“She has matured so much,” Pendleton said. “She’s a goal scorer, and she has more confidence in herself this year. We’re looking for her to step up and provide leadership.”

Seabury Academy's Lindsey Ahlen, left, Free State's Rebekah Berkley, center, and Lawrence High's Shannon Fisher are ready for the soccer season.

Other key returners include seniors Emilie Humbarger, Wallis Romzek and Nicole Lafond. In addition, Free State will look for big contributions from underclassmen, including sophomores Banaka Okwuone and Emily Erb and freshmen Clare Robinson, Lucca Wang and Meghan Hrenchir.

Whatever is in store for the Firebirds, Pendleton won’t call it a rebuilding year. The athletic potential is too visible.

“We’d like to have a winning record in league and finish in the upper half,” Pendleton said. “We have a long ways to go. We have to continue to get better. I think our fitness and athleticism will have to help us win some games that our ball skills won’t be able to.”

Lawrence High

Like the boys team, the Lawrence High girls soccer team will be led for the first time by co-coaches Matt Makens and David Platt.

While coaching changes can often create a time of tough transition, don’t expect it to be for LHS this year.

“Last year, I had the luxury of being varsity assistant and JV coach,” Makens said. “I’ve already watched 99 percent of these girls with the exception of the freshmen. I know what they can do, and they’ve already shown me they can do it and they’ve improved.”

Lawrence, which finished 3-12-1 last season, is looking at its youth to provide a big bulk of minutes. The Lions have just five seniors — Shannon Fisher, Katy Armstrong, Lesley Belt, Ashley Isbel and Michaela Sakumura — and a majority of the team will be sophomores.

“The good thing there is that most of them started or were bench players on varsity last year,” Makens said. “They know varsity minutes, and they’re through with the jitters.”

Good thing, because Lawrence opens up its season soon. The Lions will play Topeka Seaman at 6:15 p.m. Thursday at Topeka. It’ll be two more weeks before the Lions play again, but Makens likes the idea of getting an early game in the books.

“The girls are focused,” Makens said. “They know they don’t have six weeks to get ready, and they can’t lollygag to that point. They know they have to come out and be focused right now, and I think they are.”

Seabury Academy

The Seahawks also will be taking the field with a new coach in charge.

Amanda Williams, a former Division One soccer player, will set out to improve on Seabury’s 1-6-2 record from a year ago. It won’t be easy — Seabury, a Class 1A school, will be playing a tough 11-game regular season schedule that includes games against 5A schools like Olathe Northwest and Shawnee Heights.

Like the other city schools, Seabury’s going to battle without a lot of upperclassmen.

“We’re really young,” Williams said. “We have no seniors and only a few juniors. Sophomores are probably our biggest class.”

Regardless, Williams is out to help set a foundation for a budding program. Many of Seabury’s soccer players also have been spotted on the volleyball and basketball courts through the course of the school year. Sophomore Lindsey Ahlen, a three-sport standout at Seabury, will be the team’s goalkeeper. Junior Laura Frizell and sophomore Erika Hierl, both team co-captains, also play other sports for the Seahawks.

It guarantees that this year’s team isn’t short on athletic talent. It’s just getting the skills down.

“It’s a fairly new program,” Williams said, “but we have a good core group of girls that are solid and have played for a long time. All the girls out there want to be there.”

Seabury opens its season April 6 at Cair Paravel. Its home opener will be against Hyman Brand April 15 at Youth Sports Inc., fields.