Despite the recent inclement weather, the Oakville Senior High School girls’ soccer team has been able to take advantage of the school’s synthetic-turf field for practices.

“Because of the turf field, we’ve been able to practice through the cold and inclement weather,” Oakville head coach Dave Robben said. “We’re just blessed to have it.”

The Tigers are coming off a 13-6-2 re-cord last season, including going 4-4 in Suburban West Conference play. Oakville finished the 2007 season with a 1-0 loss to Rockwood Summit in the Class 2, District 3 championship game.

But with nine seasoned veterans returning for the 2008 campaign, the Tigers have come into the preseason in excellent shape, according to Robben.

“We return a lot of experience from last year,” Robben said. “Overall though, this team has come into the season fit and ready to play with a good attitude. The team’s strength and unity is already apparent.”

The Tigers return their leading scoring threat from last season — senior forward Jasmina Suljic, who racked up 10 goals and eight assists.

“Jasmina’s a fun player to watch,” Robben said. “She’s very creative with the ball and really has a knack for scoring.”

Another player to watch this season is senior forward Lauren Radman, whom Robben believes has the potential to greatly improve on last season’s performance of one goal and two assists.

Senior midfielder Megan Wingenbach is another scoring threat after recording four goals and two assists last season.

“Megan’s really our motor in the midfield,” Robben said. “She has excellent vision of the field and her ability to find open players in the midfield is just uncanny.”

Complementing Wingenbach in the midfield is junior Julia Douglas, who had two assists last season.

“Julia’s made progress in every year with the program,” Robben said. “She’s a very strong player that compliments really well with Wingenbach in the midfield.”

Senior Amanda Teschner will serve as one of the cornerstones of the defense in her fourth season with the varsity squad.

“Amanda’s an excellent defender,” Robben said. “She can play as a marker, free back or move up into the midfield. She’s probably one of the most complete kids we’ve had in the program.”

The second cornerstone to the defense is senior Courtney Kennedy at the sweeper position.

“Courtney’s been our sweeper the last two years and is a real competitor,” Robben said. “Her strength out there on the field is her quickness and speed.”

Junior Caroline Schmidt and Andrea Boone round out the two other returning defenders from last season who will help solidify a very experienced defense.

“Andrea does a very good job marking and tracking,” Robben said. “Caroline played really well in districts and is similar to Andrea in that she can also mark and track really well.”

Returning to the goalkeeper’s position this season is senior Debbie Easter, who’s coming off a 12-5-2 season with a 0.85 goals-against average. Of Easter’s 12 wins, 11 of those were recorded as shutouts.

“Debbie came on really strong at the end of the season,” Robben said. “She’s been working very hard to get ready for the up-coming season.”

The Tigers open the season at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, when they travel to rival Mehlville for Suburban West Conference action. Oakville then will play host to Horlick Senior High School of Racine, Wis., at 7 p.m. Friday, March 28. The next day, Oakville will travel to Notre Dame for a 1:30 p.m. meeting with the Rebels.

“This is a really good way for us to come off of spring break,” Robben said. “I think that this group has an excellent attitude and I don’t think that they’ll let up on their training during spring break.”