PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College women’s soccer team has a nice mix of newcomers and returning players this year as the Pirates seek to return to the NWAC championship game.

The Pirates enter the season ranked No. 1 in a coaches’ preseason poll, though the vote was very close, with Peninsula at 98 points, Spokane at 97 and defending champion Columbia Basin at 91.

The Pirates are also ranked No. 4 in the nation while Columbia Basin is ranked No. 2.

The team went undefeated last year in regulation and overtime, going 16-0-3. Its one loss was in a 5-3 shootout in the NWAC semifinals to Spokane.

The Pirates graduated several very good players off that team — Briana-Jean Tanaka, Taya Bohenko and Caneel Corpuz, who combined to score 24 goals last year. They also graduated goalkeeper Talia Marini, who started for two years.

However, they do have 16 returning players, including their two top scorers from last year — Shawna Larson of Graham and Port Angeles’ Anna Petty, who contributed 30 goals combined. Larson had 18 goals and eight assists last year and Petty contributed 12 goals and five assists.

Petty in particular was a real revelation for the Pirates, as she was a very solid all-league midfielder for the Roughriders but didn’t necessarily score a lot of goals at the high school level.

“She’s willing to do whatever is needed. Last year, we had a need for an additional goal-scorer and she said ‘I can do that’,” said head coach Kanyon Anderson.

Anderson said Petty will be moved back to the midfield, where she has always been effective controlling the ball.

Also returning is Gemma Rowland, who was an all-NWAC center back last year for the Pirates. Another returning player is Evee Stoddard on the back line. Anderson said Stoddard shows a lot of leadership and he expects her to be a team captain.

“She has been awesome, she’s been brilliant for us so far,” Anderson said.

Elliana Barden from Anderson’s hometown of Cheney is also a big offensive force.

“She scored some big goals for us last year,” Anderson said. Barden tallied seven goals.

A couple of other important returning players are defender Isis-Jade Bryant and forward Jaeda Mae Edayan.

Three players will vie to replace Marini in front of the net — sophomore Kylie Janke, who returns from last year, and freshmen Alexandra Naill, another player from Graham, and Jordyn Labajo from Hawaii.

“Those three are in a tight competition,” Anderson said.

The team has a good mix of freshmen with 13 newcomers.

As far as players to watch, Anderson said Marlie Hamlut from Anchorage, Alaska will start on the outside back and that the Pirates feature two new international players who have impressed — forward Lauren Lases from the Netherlands and midfielder Shiori Shintaku from Osaka, Japan.

Lases contributed a goal in the Pirates’ 2-1 exhibition loss last week to the University of Victoria, a four-year school. The Pirates bounced back from that game with a 3-2 exhibition win over Vancouver Island University.

Anderson said Vancouver Island was a little more of a scrimmage but that the Victoria game was competitive and hard-fought.

“I was really pleased with how we played against the University of Victoria. We don’t want to fixate on the score, but UVic felt real and competitive,” Anderson said.

The Pirates play some real games, albeit preconference, in the NWAC friendlies this week in Tukwila. The Pirates will immediately get an idea of where they stand among the elite teams in the NWAC as their first game of the year is against defending champion Columbia Basin. That game is at 3 p.m. today. They follow up with another ranked team, No. 9 Lane, at noon Wednesday.

“To win a championship, any difficult game you can get early in the season is helpful,” Anderson said.

The Pirates play their first home game against Multnomah at 5 p.m. Aug. 27.

The North was actually pretty tough last year with Skagit Valley at 12-2-2 and 10-1-1 in the region and Bellevue at 9-3-4. Both of those teams are ranked in the preaseason top six with Bellevue No. 5 and Skagit Valley No. 6. Peninsula begins North play Sept. 11 at Skagit Valley for an early-season test on the road.