Rolla, Mo. – Injuries played a major role in how the 2015 season went for the Missouri S&T Lady Miners and now it's ready to put last year behind them heading into the new season which begins next Tuesday against Lindenwood at 7 p.m. at the S&T Soccer Field. The Lady Miners return 15 players from last year's squad with several of them thrust into starting roles because of those injuries.

"One of the character skills we talked about as a team was resilience and focusing on overcoming adverse situations and move forward," head coach Joe McCauley said. "We're looking at that as a challenge that we're facing headon to move past that. We're doing some nice things in training and in preseason."

The results from their scrimmages have proved that as S&T won two of those three contests outscoring its opponents 5-2 and posting a pair of shutouts.

"That was our objective to come out with a renewed vigor of progressing our team and being successful. We've started on a good foot with good energy and leadership within the team," he added. "Players are stepping up returners and newcomers alike which we're very excited about. We're driven to be successful which is giving us a push and its paid dividends in those preseason contests. We're still a ways from things but we're pointed in the right direction."

The Lady Miners struggled to score last season recording just eight goals and didn't score more than one goal in any game. With some of those returnees back along with the newcomers McCauley feels that'll be able to score more goals this season. Julie Bride (Stilwell, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas) and Mikaela Mockenhaupt (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) led the team with two goals apiece last season while Andrea Aller (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley ), Morgan Sikora (Highland, Ill./Highland) and Johanna Jeffryes (Anchorage, Alaska/Dimond) had one each.

"Dealing with the injuries and youthfulness of our team last year we had some things to figure out. This year we've started out with that in mind and we're scoring more goals," he said. "We've had five different people score our goals, while we may not have a singular goal scorer if we can continue to do those things as a team we can continue to score goals and win matches."

Defensively, S&T returns Sikora, Taylor Vollmer (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West), Carli Tastad (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) and Amalia Tettambel (St. Louis, Mo./Visitation) and the team will get a boost with the return of Anna Fink (Fulton, Mo./Fulton) who missed all of last season due to injury. As a sophomore Fink was part of a back line that posted eight shutouts and McCauley said her presence will help stabilize the back four providing that veteran presence.

"She's one of the leaders of our team. She's a player that has a lot of composure in the back, can organize people and keep things straight. It's great to have her back and in that position providing leadership to help the rest of the defenders along with the players in front of her," he said.

Karen Nightingale (Ellisville, Mo./Marquette) will get the call in goal to start the season but despite being a senior she's only played seven minutes total in goal in her college career. McCauley stated three of the four goalkeepers have been dealing with injury and hope to get them back soon.

"Hopefully those injuries are short lived but Karen has done a great job in those three scrimmages," he said. "She's been very focused in goal and has made some very good saves for us in those contests. She's improved in certain aspects and has come back in a strong frame of mind."

The Lady Miners play their first three matches of the season on the home pitch beginning with Tuesday's contest. S&T opens Great Lakes Valley Conference play next weekend hosting Saint Joseph's and Indianapolis.