For one day, 18 soccer teams from four different classes converged on Manchester’s West High School.

Among those squads were Class I’s Bow Lady Falcons and Class M’s Hopkinton Lady Hawks.

The coaches of both units left the Saturday, Aug. 23, event without a sure feel for how their respective seasons would develop. After all, the competition included Class L’s Concord, Nashua North, Manchester Memorial and the host Blue Knights. But each coach certainly gleaned a better reckoning of the players – and talent – at their disposal.

“This is a great start, us playing Concord and West – two solid Class L programs,” said Bow head coach Jay Vogt. “Obviously, our goals are to make the playoffs and go as far as we can … but we just finalized our team, so we really don’t have any expectations yet. We’re just seeing what we have to work with right now.”

Curt Martin agreed.

“We have some talent, and we knew it would be a good experience for them playing a tough Class L team,” said the Hopkinton mentor. “Plus we don’t play every day on the turf, so that makes a lot of difference getting used to the bounces and such. Hopefully we learned some things and that will help us get ready for the season opener.”

Bow

After reaching the 2007 state semifinals and losing in a shootout to the eventual Class I champs, Bow graduated nine seniors.

“We’ve had good teams, but hadn’t been able to get over that hump and win in the first round,” said head coach Jay Vogt. “Last year, we did that and got some confidence and just couldn’t quite get by Oyster River.”

This year, Vogt said the challenges are different, but the playoff goal is the same.

“We only have seven players back from last season, so we need to figure some things out … what type of team we’re going to have and what kind of personality we’re going to have,” said Vogt. “This is a good group of girls, but it may take us a little while to get going. I expect my seniors to step up. It’s their team. It’s their year.”

Those returning are four-year players Colby Jacobson and Caitlin Pratt, as well as Lauren Allison, Mariah Leven, Caitlin Heindl, Leanna Shea and Kate Torres. This year, Bow carries eight seniors, five juniors, two sophomores and four freshman.

“I don’t usually have so many (freshmen) … but these girls all showed they can play,” said Vogt. “Now it’s just a matter of getting used to the bigger girls and high school ball, but they should all do fine.”

Missy Gleckler, Rachel Kramer, Kayla Duval and starting goalkeeper Molly Perkins each enter their first high school season.

Hopkinton

With four state titles in the last 10 years, Hopkinton is considered by many a perennial favorite in Class M. Despite a disappointing quarterfinal-round loss in the 2007 tournament, Martin said his squad is likely to once again contend in 2008.

“My expectation is always make the tournament and then hopefully get into the top four,” said Martin, who has been at the Hopkinton helm for 13 years. “We have some talented kids, some pretty fast kids from one end of the field to the other, so it’s just going to depend on their work ethic and how they gel.”

Alicia Ewing, Sara Dobe and Jacki Fotey are expected to lead this year’s squad. One of their goals, said Martin, is to help the younger athletes maintain their composure.

“I think sometimes we need to be a little bit more patient and maybe not get so excited,” he said. “This is a good group of kids that want to work, but there are some other teams out there that are going to be good. So our success, in large part, depends on how good those teams are, too.”