BY RYAN O'CONNOR

When Kris Komisarek was a freshman at Notre Dame, Michelle Winning was a senior captain. The two quickly became acquainted, long after facing each other in high school for Class L rivals Manchester Central and West, respectively.

In much the same way that Winning passed the Notre Dame soccer squad to her friend, she handed the reigns of West’s program to the former Little Green star.

That suits Komisarek, who has the opportunity to coach one of the area’s most prolific programs, even if the suits are blue instead of green.

It also means she gets to coach against her mentor, Peter Lally, who’s still coaching at Central and learned under Winning’s mentor, Jack Amero, at West.

Yes, the connections are numerous, said Komisarek.

But the most obvious connection, soon to be disconnected, may be the town of Bedford.

For decades, the Queen City’s neighbor sent hundreds of students and dozens of student-athletes to West each year.

Now, with the new high school’s startup programs featuring nothing but freshmen and sophomores, West has two years remaining to capitalize on its last Bedford crop.

Komisarek’s West team fields 12 such players at the varsity level, including three of its four captains – seniors Mary Kitsis and Sam Myers and junior Heather Harrington.

So picture this: in a match at Nashua South on Friday, Sept. 14, with 1:20 left in the contest, Myers, playing out of position as the center midfielder, dropped a pass in front of fellow Bedford senior Jackie Cordell, who promptly planted the ball in the lower-right-hand corner of the net to propel the visitors to a 1-0 victory and 3-3 record.

Now, picture West without the two spark plugs and their Bedford teammates.

Komisarek said she and the school are taking the proactive approach and setting up two club teams and several clinics to help attract athletes to the program.

“A lot of West teams are made up of Bedford athletes right now, but there are a lot more soccer players in our school, and those Manchester and Hooksett kids have decided not to play, for whatever reason. But with clinics and more positive reinforcement, maybe we can get them to give it a shot,” she said. “West has a lot of history with soccer and is really a dynasty school. We can only give them that history and what we expect for the future.”

And while West’s goal this season is to make the playoffs and contend for the final four, to get there, Komisarek said her players must abide by the words on their shirts, which quotes something she told them prior to the season.

“We are balanced, we are a team, we are one – Coach K.”

“We have a lot of loyalty, a lot of dedication and a lot of love,” she said of her squad. “They all look out for one another, on and off field, and I couldn’t ask for a better team and wouldn’t trade them for the world.”