The Oak Harbor High School soccer season got off to an ominous start last week.

Austin Moncada, a strong candidate to start in goal for the Wildcats, broke his leg the second day of tryouts and will miss the season.

Injuries derailed a promising season last year when 14 players, including nine starters, missed at least one match. Oak Harbor, which finished 6-11-1, went into the season with high hopes, coming off its first playoff appearance since 2002 and returning most of its starting lineup.

Much of that lineup (including five first-team, all-league players) is now gone through graduation, but coach Brian Thompson does return nine lettermen.

“Our strength will be the returners,” Thompson said.

That group includes only two seniors, midfielders Dakota Powers and Taylor Yancy.

Also back are juniors Alex Waner (forward) and Kyle Truex (defender) and five sophomores: J.J. Mitchell (midfielder), Andrew Franssen (midfielder), Kegan Snell (forward), Seth Gluth (defender) and Kurtis Zylstra (midfielder).

One of the new players expected to help is senior keeper Jeremy Vester.

“It will be hard to fill the void left by the seniors,” Thompson said. “I think with a lot of work and dedication, it will happen in the next year or two.

“We have good players, but they will have to step up the pace to play at the level we would like to attain.”

Thompson said his biggest concern is starting a new defensive line and goalkeeper.

The coaching staff’s goal, Thompson said, is for the Wildcats to finish in the top four of the Wesco North and return to the playoffs.

Oak Harbor plays in one of the state’s strongest soccer conferences, and to be more consistently competitive, it needs to develop a deeper feeder program, starting with a middle school team, according to Thompson.

“This would be a great transition between the rec teams and the Islander teams that travel.”

The Islander program is a “tremendous” help, Thompson said, but Oak Harbor needs to get more players involved in the club system.

Oak Harbor kicks off the season with Anacortes at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at Wildcat Memorial Stadium.