Seven freshman, six sophomores, three juniors and three seniors come together to make up the roster for UD women's softball who are about to begin play this weekend.

Many questions are buzzing about this young team. Can the new players work in the lineup and assist? Will the team improve on its impressive 20-win season last year? Will the loss of a Great Lakes Region Second Team member hurt the team's chances of a successful season?

With the season set to begin this weekend in Tennessee, the Flyers, under the guidance of head coach Jodi Eickemeyer,are hoping to impress and start the 2006 season off right.

Last year, led by Great Lakes All-Region softball second team member Cassie Gross, they finished 8-8 in A-10 play and 20-18-1 overall. The team just missed a berth in the A-10 tournament as they finished fifth and only the top four qualified to play in New York for the conference championship.

Although the Flyers lost Gross and Shannon St. Clair to graduation, seniors Melissa Myher, Tami Roudebush and Christina Vetter, along with redshirt freshman Blair Crabtree are looking to guide the team into a great season.

'We have big shoes to fill losing Cassie and Shannon, but there is no doubt in my mind that we will get the job done,' Vetter said.

'I think we will be able to compete better than last season,' sophomore Erin Lafayette added.

The team has been training hard all year in preparation for a great season. Early mornings included conditioning at 6 a.m. for Monday, Wednesday and Friday last semester. Currently the softball team practices everyday and includes an extra workout in their routine as well.

'In order to have a successful season, the team vowed a minimum of an hour extra of individual practice every week as well as an extra hour of cardio,' LaFayette said.

The young team has high goals for the season. Even with six new players on the roster, none of the women will settle for anything but the best.

'A big goal is definitely to get into the A-10 tournament,' first year player Mollie Shrank said.

'One of the main goals we have this year is to make the A-10 tournament' Vetter said. This is something we obviously strive for each year, but have many times fallen short by one game, or sometimes even one out.'

She also added, 'We are determined that this will happen for us this year and we want to make sure that we are creating our own destiny and not relying on what other teams do to get us into the tournament.'

Every player will be important to the team achieving its goals this year. Vetter and LaFayette also noted that all the new players are very talented and able to contribute to the team as teammate Shrank sees every veteran as a key aspect of the team dynamic.

'There are some really hard working and amazing players on our team,' Shrank also said.

The team dynamics will be very important as the Flyers face a tough schedule. Conference opponents will be a huge focus for the team as the Flyers look to qualify for the tournament in Philadelphia for the first time since 2000.

The Flyers will take on UMass in Massachusetts at the end of April. The defending A-10 tournament champions, Minutewomen have a preseason ranking of 27th in the nation by ESPN.com.

The women are also looking forward to playing teams they matched up well against last year as well as Charlotte and Saint Louis, who the Flyers have their first chance to play in conference action this year.

'I am personally excited to see the new teams in the conference and play Fordham again this year,' said Vetter. 'Beating Fordham last year, who was the only undefeated team in our conference, was a great accomplishment and probably the team I am most excited to see this year.'

The Flyers open up play Saturday in Belmont, Tenn. against Belmont University. The Flyers then have a string of away games stretching from Tennessee to Florida, until March 21 when Wright State plays at UD at 2 p.m.