Under the leadership of Belles coach Michael Joyce, Saint Mary's finished last season 10-10. This marked the first time the Belles outshined the five-win summit since 2005.
For the Belles, the biggest accomplishment coming into this season was reaching the .500 mark, especially after finishing the previous season at 3-16.
The Belles defense was key in winning many of their games, holding its opposition to a goal or less 12 times and allowing two goals or fewer on 17 different occasions.
The Belles will return almost all of their players from last year. The youth of the team last year was carried by the underclassmen. Returning back for the Belles will be sophomore goalkeeper Chanler Rosenbaum Rosenbaum, joined last season by Natalie Warner, accounted for all the decisions in goal and three of the team's six shutouts.
Rosenbaum had a team-best 63 saves as a freshman.
The Belles will also bring back defensemen sophomore Kerry Green and junior Kerry Puckett, who both saw minutes in every game last season.
In nine of 10 games when the Belles scored multiple goals, more than one person was recognized for scoring the goal. The Belles emerged with a win in each of those 10 games when scoring at least two goals.
The Belles will play host to Bethel in their season opener Aug. 31 at 5 p.m.
