Playing in arguably the toughest Class 3A division, the Lake Washington girls’ soccer team understands the value of getting through the KingCo playoffs.

KingCo’s Class 3A division has had a representetive in the state title game eight times since the fall of 2003, including championships by Liberty High School in 2011 and 2013.

Lake Washington, as a young squad, went 8-7-1 last season for a fourth place finish. The Kangs managed three first-team selections and will return 10 starters this fall.

“I think we’re going to be a lot better playing together this year because last year we only had three seniors,” said junior forward Carlee Betterman. “Most of the team is returning, so I think it will be easier to get used to each other faster and add the new players in.”

The only loss senior Mikaela Powers, an honorable-mention at goalkeeper. In her place is junior Cassady Barnes, who has been downright impressive during training.

Second-year head coach Ashton Griffen said Barnes could have started last season — and probably should have. And with an experienced defensive line of senior right back Megan Lynch, centerbacks Megan McCarthy and Natalie Vetto, and left back Kelli McCarthy, Barnes hopefully won’t need to be pushed to her limit.

“She’s been doing really well lately, and she’s made a huge improvement,” said Megan McCarthy, who will once again captain the team with Lynch. “Don’t get me wrong, she was really good last year, but it’s really good. She’s really good.”

Set piece work with LW girl's soccer. pic.twitter.com/WcCVBtNELQ

— John William Howard (@JowardHoward) August 27, 2016

Vetto, a senior, was selected to the all-league first team last season, along with sophomore midfielders Anna Henderson and Gracie Sturdevant. Lynch was named to the second team, with Megan McCarthy, senior midfielder Lexi Enstrom and sophomore midfielder Sakky Yoshida given honorable mention.

The Kangs’ leading scorer, Kaitlin Holldorf, put in four of Lake Washington’s 18 goals as a junior last fall. Griffen said Lake Washington can expect even distibution in scoring with one exception: firey-haired freshman Jen Estes.

“For most freshmen, I’d say it’s hard [to start at center forward] because there’s a lot of weight on your shoulders,” Griffen said. “For this one, I’d say it won’t really carry much weight because of her personality. She doesn’t seem to get down on herself when she makes a mistake.”

Estes is one of four newcomers Griffen expects to make an immediate impact. A deeper rotation allows Lake Washington to play faster throughout the game.

“I think one of our focuses is our depth coming off the bench,” Griffen said. “Last year, there was a bit of a drop off in skill level when we started pulling from deeper parts of our bench, and we just don’t have that this year.”

Lake Washington is scheduled to kick off the season against Bishop Blanchet at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Mac Field. League play begins on Sept. 20 against Redmond High School.

Correction: In the initial version of this story, Jen Estes was misspelled. The Kirkland Reporter regrets the error.