OMAHA, Neb. – The College of Saint Mary soccer team will have a new look Sunday when the Flames kick off the 2024 season.

CSM is under new leadership with Head Coach Jamison Parkhill taking over the squad in the offseason. The Flames will also have plenty of new faces as the team graduated a large senior class last year that included key players Kaylie Ratzlaff, Reagan Boex, Hayley Holden and Katie Harold.

Last year's squad went 5-4-3 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference and 7-6-5 overall. The Flames earned the No. 6 seed in the GPAC Postseason Tournament and were eliminated in the opening round of playoffs.

But Parkhill has reason to be optimistic as the Flames return a healthy core group of athletes and brought in some talented freshmen and transfers. Key returners include Alivia Schade, Abbie Anderson, Marissa Ring, Kaitlin Smith, Jessica Slater and Camila Muñoz. Schade was an All-GPAC Second Team selection, while Anderson and Ring were both All-GPAC Honorable Mention.

"Our overall depth will be a strength for us," Parkhill said. "We have multiple people in each position that will be able to challenge for minutes which will help us grow as a program. And we have a solid senior class that has been contributors for four years and will help in guiding our underclassmen."

Parkhill has been pleased with what he's seen in practice so far.

"Our trainings have been going very well," he said. "I am pleased with the progress the team has made and we are ahead of where I thought we would be at this point. By no means are we close to what we can become, but we took a lot of positives from our scrimmages against Iowa Western (Community College) on Tuesday night. To be able to put together the performance that we did versus the back-to-back NJCAA national champions shows us what we can be.

"There are still things that we need to clean up before we kick off our conference schedule, but we made sure to challenge ourselves with our nonconference schedule so we can continue to get better each day."

Parkhill said a key factor in CSM's success this season will be "staying healthy."

"We have picked up a few injuries already and as we go through the season we need to stay healthy," he said. "A college soccer season is a grind and we need to make sure we are doing our best to keep everyone sharp and ready to go. If someone goes down, we need to have the 'next woman up' mentality."

That mentality will be a key factor in CSM's success in the GPAC.

"We expect to be competitive in the GPAC," Parkhill said. "We have some lofty internal goals, but of course we always want to make it into the postseason tournament and host a game. We are excited to get started."

The Flames open their season on Sunday with a 1 p.m. home contest vs. the University of Jamestown. The Jimmies used to be in the GPAC, but have moved to the North Star Athletic Association this season.