Nansemond River’s field hockey team put in an offseason of hard work to improve on reaching the Southeastern District Tournament, but not continuing on to the regional tournament, a season ago.

Head coach Ali Mowry, in her second season leading the Lady Warriors, knew all the work from last November through this summer would be tested right away.

The Lady Warriors aced the first exam in their season opening match Wednesday, blanking Western Branch 3-0.

During preseason practices, the chance to see where her team stacks up right away was fine with Mowry.

Mowry counted her team’s first five district opponents, Western Branch, Grassfield, Hickory, Great Bridge and Lakeland, along with the Lady Warriors, as the main contenders for district playoff spots.

“We’ll see if all the work we’ve done through the offseason has paid off. We’ll find out right away,” Mowry said.

The Lady Warriors return seven starters from last season, when Mowry replaced her former coach Darryl Yandle, who’s now the JV coach for the Lady Warriors. Mowry was a three-year Lady Warrior captain before going on to a collegiate career at Radford.

Nansemond River finished fourth in the Southeastern and with an 11-5 record overall. Reaching the Eastern Region Tournament this year means moving past either or both of Western Branch, state semifinalists last fall, and Lakeland, the defending Group AAA state champion with a 24-0 record in 2010.

“They kind of know what to expect from me and I know what to expect from them,” Mowry said about going into her second season. Just as importantly, it’s after her first full offseason as coach.

“Overall, we have a lot of newcomers coming into the whole program,” Mowry said.

For the returners, improvement should come naturally in a coach’s second season in charge.

“I think we’ve had time to read each other, to know where everyone’s going to be on the field better,” Mowry said.

Where leadership will come from is pretty simple to see for the Lady Warriors. A spectator needs only see how the squad takes the field. Mowry’s three captains line up straight across her midfield.

Senior Mary Gover is the central midfielder, flanked by fellow captains senior Jordan Morris and junior Shelbi Holloman.

“Our strength this year is we’re together as a team,” Morris said.

“Everyone’s developed really well and worked hard through the offseason,” Holloman said.

“It’s been a lot of conditioning, a lot of distance running,” said Gover.

Sixteen Lady Warriors went to a summer team camp at North Carolina-Chapel Hill. College and international coaches and players taught the campers.

Lindsey Hunter and Brooke Street split playing time in goal last season, the first varsity season for both of the underclassmen after Stephanie Tarafas, a U.S. junior national team goalie who’s now playing at James Madison, graduated.

Erica Dover is an all-district returner at stopper, a position that’s part-midfield and part-defense. Mowry and each of the tri-captains said Dover is always important to Lady Warrior success.

Along with the tough district schedule in the first few weeks of the season, the Lady Warriors are in a tournament at York on Sept. 9-10. Nansemond River could match up against Bethel and first-year head coach Katelyn Yandle.

Katelyn Yandle starred and set school scoring records in four seasons for Nansemond River and her dad Darryl before playing at Christopher Newport and graduating in the spring.