Let’s get right to the point.

“Our girls should be stronger than last year,” Falcon girls soccer coach Paul Arand said. “Success will depend on the realization of team soccer, by which I mean supporting runs, ball movement, ball control, creative play, finishing and rugged defense.”

Success doesn’t come easily in the Cascade Conference, and never has. Last season, Cedarcrest was the 2A state champ and Archbishop Murphy and King’s were third in 2A and 1A respectively.

South Whidbey split its season 7-7 and clinched a 2A playoff berth, beating Anacortes 3-1 in the crossover contest, then losing to Murphy.

Arand said adapting his program to deal with private schools like Murphy and King’s means being both stronger and smarter.

“Good planning and preparation by the entire team will equal victory on the soccer field,” he said. “We need to play fast, simple and fundamental soccer that creates lots of options, and we need to make favorable choices that our opponents don’t expect.”

He knows the league fields quality opponents.

“We want to beat them,” Arand said. “We spend time figuring out who their key players are and developing knowledge of how they like to attack.

“Knowledge is power.”

A financial manager at the private Waldorf School, this is Arand’s 11th outing as soccer coach. For the past few weeks, he and assistant coach Gary Peterson had the team focus on ball handling, passing, receiving, finishing and defense.

“We have the girls take a battery of tests,” the coach said. “We use them to determine skill level, strength, speed and endurance. Forwards need to be fast while mid-fielders are best at long distance.”

Soccer is a marathon sport, with 11 practices needed before the first game — which took place Thursday at home against Friday Harbor — and it takes a long time for a player to build the necessary skill levels.

Arand spends a lot of time teaching the art of expecting the unexpected.

“The game is so quick and fluid; sometimes you have to read three or four players at the same time,” he said.

Another soccer concept Arand instills is the capability to move the ball forward relentlessly, passing with authority and finding the weak points in the other team’s defense.

Coaching girls to deal with the uncertainties of soccer is the first rule in Arand’s view. “The faster they can react, the better they’ll do on the field,” Arand said.

The coach is enthusiastic about his starting players, most of whom are veterans.

Natasha Kamps is the team’s co-captain and goalie.

“Natasha is a calming force in the goal and I’m looking for her to come up big in the nets this year and make some big saves,” Arand said.

Laura Barrow was a first-team All-Conference pick last season and shares captain duties with Kamps.

“We are looking for Laura to anchor our defense,” Arand said. “She brings speed and power to our backfield.”

Megan Larmore is a calm, consistent player who can possess and protect the ball well, Arand said. “She is also the type of player who won’t back down to aggressive opponents,” he added.

Julia Iversen has playmaking ability and ball control, and Arand hopes she’ll step up as a major scorer this year.

Shannon Craig is celebrating her fourth year as an all-around defensive back.

And those are just the seniors. The coach said his younger girls are not afraid to mix it up.

Arand said that Anna Lennon, Mimi Hill, Laurie Robinson, Marie Shimada, Paige Miller, Courtney Fredrickson, Jessica Manca, Brianna Haimes, Makenzie Peterson and Lindsey Grimm have shown the skills needed to back up the seniors and succeed on their own.