Nansemond-Suffolk Academy field hockey coach Ashley Skinner pointed to last season as a positive turning point for her team, and the Lady Saints seemed to build off of that turn in their 2015 season-opener on Tuesday.

NSA started the year with a shutout, defeating visiting Bruton High School 2-0.

“We were very proud of this game,” Skinner said. “The past two years Bruton has beaten us — last year was (6)-0, the year before was 12-(1), so we were very excited about this win.”

The Lady Saints have only two upperclassmen on the roster this year, one senior and one junior, who are teammates with seven sophomores and five freshmen, but the young team played with confidence against the Lady Panthers.

“I felt like our girls just came out ready to play from the get-go,” Skinner said. “Everybody was focused, their mind was on the game.”

Junior Paige Christiansen scored the first goal of the game with 17:17 to go in the first half. Freshman Sam Williams doubled the lead with 8:24 remaining in the second half off of an assist from sophomore Morgan Morrell.

NSA freshman Sarah Christiansen recorded six saves in goal.

She is taking over the role of goalie from one of last year’s senior standouts, Madi Glynn.

The Lady Saints lost a total of seven players from last year’s team. Five of them were graduates, including Jessie Lerner and Sarah Higinbotham, while two decided not to come back this year.

Nansemond-Suffolk went 8-10-2 in 2014, and its season ended in the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools tournament.

Skinner said she thinks the 2015 Lady Saints can continue the program’s turnaround and even progress beyond last year’s achievements. But she understands that this is a team that, save for its junior and senior, would ordinarily be a junior varsity squad.

“We have such a young team, so our goals this year are really just to use our skill and to play with confidence,” she said, even if opposing teams have more experience.

The lone senior on NSA’s roster is Emily Mason, and Paige Christiansen is the junior. Both of them play in the midfield.

“I expect a lot out of Paige and Emily as leaders and captains for our team,” Skinner said. “I also expect a lot out of Morgan Morrell.”

Though only an underclassman, Morrell, a forward, has already turned into a leader.

“Her skill has just improved so much over the summer,” Skinner said. “She’s attended camps,” she’s working hard to be better and to challenge her teammates to become better, as well.

Nansemond-Suffolk (1-0) visits Hampton Roads Academy on Tuesday.