White team sophomore to be Audra Nepstad cools off under a water hose during a stoppage of the scrimmage at Free State's soccer camp, Tuesday at FSHS.

Don’t blame Free State High girls soccer coach Kelly Barah if he forgets that some of his former players aren’t on the team anymore.

After losing 17 players to graduation, the Firebirds will look drastically different than they did this past spring.

“I turn around and I’m like, ‘Hey (Maddie) Dieker, make a run,’ or ‘Olivia (Hodison), play a ball through,’ and you realize that they’re not there,” Barah joked. “But so much more, I can see from the returning players where they now have to start figuring out how to play with newer players. I think it’s even worse for them as bad as it is for me.”

The Firebirds opened a week-long team camp on Monday, and are doing drills for two hours in the morning before scrimmaging against each other in the evening.

They’ve also had daily conditioning and are participating in 6-on-6 games at FSHS throughout the summer.

“I’m just thrilled to see players who are coming in, regardless of what you’re throwing at them and how new it is, and are just willing to really go out and work as hard as they can, especially in this heat,” Barah said. “We haven’t seen anybody try to hold back or anything like that, so I’m excited about that part.”

With a lot of newcomers adjusting to the high school and varsity levels, it’s up to the returning varsity players to help bring them along. Part of that process is showing how much more serious soccer is taken at the varsity level than others.

“I remember when I was coming in last year, I didn’t realize the intensity that we had to play with here,” sophomore Sabrea Platz said. “I played club soccer, but it’s just a different atmosphere and Barah expects more from us than any of my other coaches have before and I think (the newcomers) are getting used to that. …He expects the best from us.”

Senior Lindsey Wethington added: “It’s definitely very different than any other atmosphere and so it’s an adjustment, but they’ve been doing well.”

Along with many newcomers, it will also be an adjustment for the returners. Gone are last year’s senior leaders who they could lean on, and now others will be expected to fill those roles on and off the field.

“It’s really exciting seeing all of the talent for next year and challenging because we have to step up into a leadership role that we haven’t been in before,” Platz said.

As camp continues, Barah said he’s confident that newcomers will fit in well to Free State’s system and he won’t have to change playing styles after losing so many players from last season.

“We don’t change who we are,” Barah said. “We’re not going to try to play kickball because we don’t think that’s how we develop players. We’re still trying to play possession-style soccer, and they call it a beautiful game because of that so we’re not going to try to take that away. If we’re all watching the World Cup, it’s about the teams that can effectively pass the ball so we’re trying to make sure that we’re growing with the game as well.”