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ATTLEBORO - The Rocketeers and Lancers reached semifinal round matches in the MIAA Tournament last season. The Falcons and Shamrocks both had a pair of double-digit goal-scorers.

The 2008 area high school boys' soccer season should be riveting. North Attleboro High and Norton High programs had superb midfielder leadership from Sam Ocel and Mike Kelly respectively.

Dighton-Rehoboth has 32 goals coming back from the toes of Carlos Alvarez and Keith Rose. Bishop Feehan has 29 points returning from Kyle Morrissey and Dan Galvin. There is new leadership in place at Mansfield and at Foxboro High, where Andy Coppolla and Pat Nash have taken over as head coaches.

The defending Hockomock League champion Rocketeers and the always competitive Hornets of Mansfield should once again be in the upper echelon.

Bishop Feehan will have to unseat Bishop Stang in the Eastern Athletic Conference, the Spartans have eliminated the Shamrocks in the first round of the postseason last year.

The freshmen-sophomore laden Bombardiers of Attleboro High will be challenged to make a dent in its Old Colony League slate.

Whereas Dighton-Rehoboth might be the team to beat in the South Coast Conference, arch-rival Seekonk returns all but three starters.

Foxboro Warriors

There is only one way to go for new head coach Pat Nash and his Warriors - forward. With merely one win last season, the Warriors definitely have the nucleus to do much better and be competitive in the Hockomock League.

"The goal is to get better every day," said Nash, a former Bishop Feehan High and Bridgewater State College booter. Foxboro takes that first step with senior co-captain and midfielder Jaime Sinno. With "strong on the ball" skills either as a withdrawn forward or central midfielder, he is a Warrior catalyst.

The other is Foxboro freshman Dan Adair, a Warrior with a wealth of regional and national youth league play, one of two dozen New England players selected to the New England Revolution developmental team.

Senior co-captain Tim Loftus is also in the midfield with senior Brandon Manning and sophomore Jake Hyland, while the front line has fast-footed senior Dennis Callahan and senior J.R. Formentera, a good one-on-one player. Junior Shawn McLaughlin returns in net for Foxboro, knowing that senior captain and stopper Ben Young will be feverishly working in front of him and Adair, more of a natural midfielder, will be at sweeper. Junior Ed Carroll and sophomore Ahmed Kafel will be the wing backs.

King Philip Warriors

The good news for coach Kip Lewis is that the Warriors are senior-laden. Now the Warriors have to improve upon the six wins totaled last season and demonstrate that they can contend for a Hockomock League title and an MIAA Tournament berth.

"They have to prove it," said Lewis. "There's a big difference between being okay on paper and doing it." KP definitely has some key pieces in place, what with senior captains Alex Katapodis and Sean Heagney on the backline, senior captains Dave Connolly and Peter Lavallee at midfield and senior striker Joel Diamond (five goals, four assists) up top.

Seniors Chris Brennan and Kevin Pimental along with sophomore Mike Perry are all very serviceable in the front line for the Warriors. And there is depth in the midfield cast with Kevin Hilton, Pat Dowling, Brenton Chapski and Matt Heagney.

Sophomore Matt Keyes will be alongside Katapodis in a central defensive spot, while seniors Joe Maguire and Dan Kelly will be outside backs. The Warriors scrimmaged Bellingham, Norton and Attleboro and with 18 seniors on the roster, Lewis is keeping his fingers crossed.

Mansfield Hornets

With the string of successes that the Mansfield High Hornets have enjoyed through the reign of former head coach George Giannaloudis, to a well-developed youth program, new coach Andy Coppolla knows that the bar has been set high.

"Mansfield has had a lot of good luck, a good youth program and has been good at developing players," said Coppolla. Unfortunately, the nucleus of the Hornet team which finished second in the Hockomock League and was a No. 3 seed for the Division 1 South Tournament has graduated.

"We're still trying to find that touch," said Coppolla of generating some chemistry, some continuity and a scoring touch. Up top Dan Murphy and Travis Lasher will be the target men. The midfield cast as senior captain Evyn Grimes, Giscard Sarkis, Alex Demme and Rafael Machado.

Two goalies have emerged and deserve equal billing, seniors Bryson Dow and Ryan Pallardy. Senior sweeper Chris Harney anchors the defense with James Dever at stopper and Andrew Bailey and Jeremy Carroll on the outside.

North Attleboro Rocketeers

It will be awfully hard for the Rocketeers to have an encore for a team which reached the semifinals of the MIAA Division 1 Tournament (losing to Brcokton), posted a gaudy 16-1-1 regular season record, won the Hockomock League title and posted 13 shutouts.

"They want to keep it going," offered North coach Steve Santos. "There are lot of new kids in new positions, we lost eight starters, so there are a lot of big shoes to fill. But, we still have some quality players."

The Rocketeers have a premier player, playmaker and scorer in senior captain Sam Ocel (15 goals, eight assists). North has a quartet of others who saw extensive playing time last year too, senior captain and stopper Colin Flynn, junior sweeper Toby Berkowitz, speedy senior midfielder Christian Pirnie and senior striker Justin Crear.

Now North has to fill in the gaps. Senior Colin Goodwin will open in goal and also on the backline in his support will be outside backs Tristan Richardson and Alex Ventolo.

The midfield cast has two others who saw appreciable varsity time last season too in seniors Connor Grealish and Diego DaSilva. Up top, Crear will work with senior Matt Begin and sophomore Nevic Jarmilo. North scrimmaged Brockton, Walpole and Coyle-Cassidy.

Norton Lancers

The Lancers graduated 10 players from last season's side which compiled a 10-3-5 slate and reached the semifinal round of the MIAA Division 3 South Tournament. However, instead of being an attacking, forward-moving team, coach Eric Greene and the Lancers might have to be more protective and cautious this fall.

"In our league (Tri-Valley), Medfield and Hopkinton are strong and I think the nature of our team will be that we'll try to shut down teams more," said Greene. To that end, senior Pat Hillman returns in goal. Senior captain Cam Campbell anchors the defense with junior Chris Lenehan and freshman Chris Ricca also to be fixtures.

Senior captain Mike Kelly (six goals, seven assists) will be a catalyst for Norton in that he has speed, skill and a scoring touch. Sophomore Eric Silvestri and freshman Colin Campbell are young, but talented.

Up front, Greene is hoping that senior Devin Askew and sophomore Keegan Campbell, who accumulated a lot of varsity minutes a year ago, can finish off the opportunities. "Right now our forwards, the midfield have to get it together," said Greene of stringing an offense. "First and foremost, we're trying to keep the ball out of our net."

Dighton-Rehoboth Falcons

The Falcons won 11 matches, took second place in the SCC last season and played in the post-season. Should 2008 be any different? Coach Steve Kulpa has an impressive array of talent suiting up in green and gold. "They're meshing well, they want to learn, they listen," said Kulpa of the steps to success.

D-R will put pressure on foes, merely due to the presence of speedy senior striker Carlos Alvarez (11 goals, 11 assists) and junior striker Keith Rose (21 goals), the No. 2 scorer in the SCC last year.

The Falcons scrimmage New Bedford, Brockton and Norton and intent upon putting their best feet forward. Senior Tyler Snook returns in goal. In the "flat back" Falcon defensive system, seniors Chris Dunlap and Ryan Benedetti along with 5-10 sophomore Jack Fisher will be the key ingredients.

The Falcons also have two very efficient midfielders in senior captains Greg Moulding and Tyler Rose, "they both play off of each other well," said Kulpa. Junior Brandon Bairos and freshman Brendan Vasconcellos will be the outside backs.

Seekonk Warriors

Coach Jeff Creamer lost just three starters from a squad which qualified for the MIAA Tournament on the final day of the 2007 season. "We can be more competitive if we play defense," said Creamer, aware that the Warriors can go forward, but have to remember to mark and deny.

The Warriors have an elite midfielder in four-year starter, senior captain Mike DaSilva (11 goals, seven assists) and two forwards with scoring potential in junior Aris Santiago and sophomore Edgar Lopez "We have versatility, some skilled kids, but we have to find a hungry goal-scorer," said Creamer.

The defensive backline returns junior captain Paul Hindle at sweeper and senior captain Nick Caron at stopper. The versatile Sam Martin along with seniors Jason Bernardo and Andrew Braunsdorf will be the outside backs. A very athletic junior Zach Caron will be the netminder.

Working with DaSilva at midfield will be senior newcomer Josh Rainho and juniors Brendon Gouveia and Narley Tavares. Do the Warriors have enough to contend with D-R, Fairhaven and Greater New Bedford in the SCC? The roster says yes.

Attleboro Bombardiers

The Bombardiers are a work in progress, a young team with not much varsity match experience, but will a lot of talent. "They can play, they can pass the ball, but we have to learn how to finish and take care of things in our end of the field," said coach Peter Pereira.

Senior captain Ryan Cronin is the target man up top with senior James Cataldo alongside him. Senior Chris Gulino returns at midfield, flanked by a pair of sophomores, Jake Keefer and Tom Wompler.

For the first time in a long time, the Bombardiers do not have a goalkeeper with varsity experience. Sophomores Joe Narkiewicz and Marcus Maynard are vying for the spot. Senior captain and All Sun Chronicle pick Brandon Martins is the glue for the defensive backline, working with senior Ryan Cordeiro, junior Evan Sylvia, sophomore Justin Keefer and freshman Troy Martins.

Bishop Feehan Shamrocks

The Shamrocks won 11 matches, lost just two and produced a pair of 10-goal scorers for the first time last season. There is plenty to believe that Bishop Feehan could be just as good. But, don't put the pressure on coach Mike Pariseau.

"We have a good nucleus, a lot of upperclassmen, we have a strong bench, but a lot remains to be seen," said Pariseau. The Shamrocks possess two elite players in senior striker Dan Galvin, who created 17 assists in his playmaking role last year and senior midfielder Kyle Morrissey, who in just little more than a half-season (due to a broken leg) netted a dozen goals.

Freshman Devan Devoy (the sister of Shamrock star girls' striker Siobhan) is a finisher and with Morrissey at midfield will be seniors Cory Cassarella and Neil Johnson along with junior Todd Hunter.

Senior Jeff Braga and junior Rick Blythe are vying for the starting goalkeeper spot. The backline returns senior captain Justin Barrett, a solid cover-man and transitional player. Senior captain T.C. Foster, senior Pat Boyland and junior Liam Doherty will be the outside backs.

Tri-County Cougars

Coach Richard Vernon has been pleasantly pleased by the progress of his Cougars, so much so that Tri-County could be an influential member of the revamped Mayflower League. However, adding Chatham and Cape Cod Tech to its division will make winning just as difficult.

The Cougars have a cast to get it done. Junior Drew Flamenco is the target man on the front line. Senior captain Jake Crowley and senior captain Cullen Wetherell, a converted defender, should be dominating players at midfield. Senior Nick Glynn and juniors Connor Hennessey and Taylor Crowley will be contributing there as well.

Senior Sean Dorsey returns in goal and in the Cougars' flat-back defensive system, senior captain Andrew Gregg and freshman Andrew Mazzarella have the prime responsibility. "All and all, we should have enough to win some matches," said Vernon.