Lawrence High School boys soccer coach Mike Murphy, left of center, leads participants through a soccer camp Friday at LHS.

Lawrence High School senior soccer player Jakob Burdett, left, moves upfield during soccer camp, Friday at LHS.

With six returning starters and eight returning varsity lettermen, Lawrence High’s boys soccer team has high expectations for the upcoming season.

The Lions have been practicing three times a week in the morning and last weekend took a trip to Burlington, Iowa, for a team camp, with solid results.

“We figured out a couple really key things, such as formation and positions,” LHS coach Mike Murphy said. “I feel real good, even at this point, going into the season kind of knowing what we want to try for the initial few games and see how it goes.”

The first few weeks of summer workouts focused on conditioning and stamina. Now the Lions are working on the fundamentals, along with their regular workouts.

However, the biggest area the Lions want to improve on is finding ways to score.

“I think we really need to work on our attacking,” senior Jakob Burdett said. “We have a really solid defense and solid midfield, but we don’t really have that many people who can put it in the back of the net, so we’re really going to have to work on that.”

Burdett will likely move from playing striker on last year’s 7-9-1 team to an attacking midfielder this fall. The move should help create more offensive opportunities for the team, as the Lions will likely opt to use younger players as strikers. Murphy said using younger players up front isn’t as worrisome because many of the returning players have improved since the end of last season.

“Zach Alexander, who is going to be a senior, he will step in from a substitute role to a starter role this year,” Murphy said of the defender. “He’s looked really good so far in workouts. Physically just a completely different player, much more prepared for the varsity level and the rigors of playing varsity soccer.

“We feel that we have some real good options for us.”

Murphy gave some players critique cards on Friday, so they have specific things they can work on for the next two months. Yet even if the season started today, he has confidence the Lions will be an improved team.

“I feel pretty good about the guys that are going to step up and fill the positions from the graduating seniors,” Murphy said. “I think we’ll have two or three starters from that group of juniors that’s kind of sliding in. Those two striker positions right now are wide open. Everything else I feel pretty good about.”