MILWAUKEE -- Although the Alverno College women's soccer team has only four returners from last season, those four seniors will be an integral piece of the team's success in the 2009 season.

The Inferno, who finished the 2008 campaign last in the Northern Athletics Conference standings at 0-12 and 3-16 overall, will require contributions on both sides of the field from the experienced players.

"All four seniors are hugely important to us," said first year Head Coach Brittany Oliveira. "To have their veteran leadership out on the field is vital to our team's success."

The senior returners include Jackie Barnes (Germantown, Wis.) and Joslyn Binkowski (Greenfield, Wis.) on the defensive end, and Alex Brenner (West Allis, Wis./Nathan Hale) and Ellie LaFond (Waukesha, Wis./West) as offensive threats.

"Jackie is a very technical soccer player who is very athletic, has great size and the ability to play at goal or defender," said Oliveira. "She's also done a great job of helping some of the newcomers out."

Barnes will most likely split time at goal with Binkowski, a multisport athlete who completed her basketball eligibility with Inferno this past season. Binkowski logged about one-third of the team's minutes as goalkeeper last season where she recorded 79 saves in over 622 minutes for the Inferno.

"Joslyn is very athletic," said Oliveira. "Her strengths are her competitiveness and aggressiveness on the field, which is important to us."

Offensively the Inferno return two top-three career scoring leaders at Alverno with Brenner and LaFond.

Brenner, last season's team MVP and a two-time honorable mention All-NAC selection, is third on the all-time charts with 61 points and is the all-time assists leader with nine career assists.

"Alex really brings a lot of talent and leadership to the team," said Oliveira. "She is someone I've been able to bounce ideas off of and talk to about how the team's done in the past.  She will need to continue to be the assist leader on the team this season."

LaFond, also a two-time honorable mention All-NAC selection, was third in the conference in goals per game netting 1.00 per contest.

"With Ellie, we are returning our leading scorer," said Oliveira. "Hopefully she will continue leading the charts in scoring and become the all-time career scoring leader at Alverno."

LaFond trails Alverno's all-time goals leader Alexandra Salisbury (2004-07) by just three goals, entering the 2009 season with 36.

Oliveira also welcomes nine newcomers to the team, including freshmen Kelsey Kochanowski and Alicia McKenzie from Oak Creek, Wis., Isabel Castillo (Milwaukee, Wis./School of Languages), Audriana Rosas (New Berlin, Wis.), Kirsten Matesi (Stevens Point, Wis./SPASH), Tatiana Zaldua (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King) and Marissa Christjohn (Milwaukee, Wis./Thomas More). Experienced newcomers include juniors Abby Halliburton (Waukesha, Wis./South) and Kelly Sunstrom (Muskego, Wis./Martin Luther).

Including herself, Oliveira brings a completely new coaching staff to the program with the additions of Bill Armstrong, the former head coach at Brookfield East High School, and Sarah Teegarden, a recent All-American player at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

"The returners have adapted well to the new coaching staff," said Oliveira. "They've been through some coaching changes in the past and they understand what it takes to adapt."

The returners are a good reason for increased expectations as the team was picked 12th in the NAC preseason coaches' poll, a spot up from last season's finish.

"I'm looking forward to this group of women who are really energetic and coming out hard to play every practice," said Oliveira. "We are going to continue to progress and we're going to get a lot better as the season goes on. Overall, it's a very new group so it's going to take some time to gel to get used to the system, but I expect to see progress through the season and raise some eyebrows in the conference."

The Inferno kick off the 2009 season with a nonconference tilt this afternoon as they host crosstown rival Mount Mary College on the Alverno campus. The team opens up its conference portion of the schedule on Saturday, Sep. 12, at Concordia University Wisconsin. Both games begin at 4 p.m.