The Mount Si boys soccer team will be different in a lot of ways as it rebuilds this season.

“We’ve got to start back from square one,” said coach Darren Brown, returning for his fifth season. “Our formation’s going to be different this year.”

Brown is readying an aggressive plan of attack, but it all depends on conditioning. Mount Si players can look forward to a couple of intense weeks of practice with a single aim in mind.

“My goal for this team is to be one of the best, if not the best, conditioned team in Kingco, hands down,” Brown said.

The team finished 4-8-4 last season, and while many seniors moved on, a number of players return this season. They are led by senior goalie Cody Tipton, and junior midfielder/forward Doug Silvius. Fellow junior Sam Evans is also a top returner, and he is ready.

“It will be a rebuilding year, definitely, after losing so many seniors, but I think we’ll still be all right for the season,” Evans said.

The Wildcats are expected to fare well in the league this season, if only because most of the toughest teams, in Newport, Issaquah, and Skyline, aren’t part of the league this season. Mount Si will compete with Mercer Island and Liberty for the crown, although Bellevue and Sammamish could sneak up and make some noise themselves. Mercer Island could be the runaway favorite for the league title.

Of Mercer Island, “they’re very stacked, they’re very deep, they have a very strong squad, returning corps from last year,” Brown said. “They have some players that really can do some damage in a hurry.”

Another returning face to watch on the ‘Cats side is Sam Joselyn. His big brother Ben graduated last spring after a stellar four years in the Mount Si program, mainly anchoring the defense. Sam Joselyn is ready to step into his brother’s shoes.

“Watching him out here was the best learning I got from him, and I just hope to fill his shoes,” Sam said.

A top newcomer of note is senior Alex Bolves, who will serve as a co-captain this year.

Silvius returns as the team’s top offensive threat after a good year last season, his first here following his family’s move from Colorado. He is ready.

“It’s not really that different from Colorado,” Silvius said. “Soccer’s soccer. But it’ll be fun to play with different and younger kids than last year.”

The highlight of the schedule this season is another visit by boys from Mount Si assistant coach Ben Tomlisson’s old school, Bishop Heber at Malpas, in the United Kingdom. Players from this school visited Mount Si two years ago, and were well-received by many Valley families. An exhibition club tournament featured the visiting group, and the players were hosted by area families.

“What you’re going to see, when those guys come back over, is a lot of excitement, a lot of fun around here,” Brown said. “We’re going to have a strong group of young boys coming in who can play.”

He plans to set up a varsity game against the visiting team, which should be an interesting challenge.

“They’re great players, they all grew up playing soccer, and they know how to play the game better than some people here do,” an excited Evans said. “It’s always good to play against players that are better and have a different aspect on the game than you do.”

The path ahead is up to Mount Si to blaze, Evans said.

“We lost a lot of good seniors, but so did a lot of other schools,” he said. “If we work hard enough, we could definitely make the playoffs if we tried our best.”

“We’ll see you on the field,” Silvius added.