The Rye Neck boys soccer team has made significant jumps in the each of the past two seasons, losing to eventual state champion Bronxville in the 2008 sectional championship and then advancing to the state tournament last year for the first time since 1999.
Eight players — including five starters — return from that team, but coach Bryan Iacovelli isn't taking anything for granted.
"We come in every year with the same philosophy — get better every day, every practice and every game," Iacovelli said. "If they put the hard work in, the success is just a byproduct of that."
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The Panthers did suffer significant losses from last season, including its goalie, three-fourths of the starting defense and striker Adam Gutierrez, who finished sixth in Section 1 with 24 goals — including all three of Rye Neck's goals in the state tournament.
"We're still trying to find our identity," Iacovelli said. "We're still trying to work everything out. We have a lot of goals to replace. But I would say the defense will be the most difficult to replace from last year."
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The anchor of the defense will be junior Connor McWilton, who was instrumental in shutting down Edgemont standout Justin Orden in last year's sectional final.
McWilton could be helped by utility player Alex Baretto, who played forward last year as a freshman but excels on defense for his travel team.
On offense the Panthers will rely on Ivan Martinez, who led the team in scoring two years ago as a freshman.
"Now that he's a junior we're expecting big things," Iacovelli said. "He's also very unselfish, a great teammate and a great person to be around."
Aiding Martinez will be David Mendoza-Connor, who played midfield last year but will be asked to take on more of a scorers role this time.
The midfield is led by Marco Callisto, who is coming off an excellent varsity debut season.
"We stuck him right in at center midfield and we didn't skip a beat," Iacovelli said. "He's stronger in the 80th minute of the game than he is in the first minute."
Rye Neck's league should be tough again this year thanks to Valhalla and Blind Brook, who just made the move up to Class B.
"It won't be an easy league by any means but it never has been, and the tough league schedule prepares us for sectionals," Iacovelli said.
