HAMMOND, La. – Competition is the buzzword as the Southeastern Louisiana women’s soccer team opens its first preseason camp under head coach Christopher McBride on Tuesday.

    The 24-member squad reports for paperwork, physicals and concussion tests on Tuesday before starting practice Wednesday at 8 a.m. at Strawberry Stadium. Southeastern will hold its Green and Gold intrasquad scrimmage at noon on Saturday before visiting Southern Miss for an exhibition match at 4 p.m. on Aug. 10. The Lady Lions open the 2017 season at home against Jackson State at 6 p.m. on Aug. 18.

    McBride, an assistant coach at South Alabama in 2016, takes over a Southeastern squad that went 7-11-2 and tied for sixth in the Southland Conference. The Lady Lions advanced to the Southland Tournament before losing to eventual champion Houston Baptist in the first round.

    Eleven newcomers join 13 returnees for 2017, creating competition throughout the squad.

    “We have 22 field players, two players for every one position, so everybody is fighting against someone for a spot,” McBride said. “Which is good because nothing is given to anyone. The competition is going to be really tough this fall especially with 11 new players coming in. And we had four players (juniors Vanessa Arzaluz, Payton Colson and Maggie Ramsey and redshirt freshman Alexandra Gundersen) who were injured during the spring so really 15 new players are coming into the new philosophy, new coaching style. It’s going to be very competitive, but that’s a good thing because it only makes us better and prepares us for our tough conference this year.”

    McBride said the biggest goal of preseason camp is getting the newcomers accumulated into the system he started to install during spring practice.

    “We laid the foundation of what we wanted to do this fall so now with all our 11 new players going to be here, it’s now time to use fall camp to start jelling, to start getting to know each other,” McBride said. “Understanding how everybody plays individually and put that in the big picture so we can start playing cohesively as a team.”

    McBride, who was hired as Southeastern’s fourth women’s soccer head coach last November, said he is anxious to get his first preseason camp underway.

    ‘It’s been a long time coming, for me personally,” McBride said. “We had a successful spring, started off and got better after each game. It’s looking good for us and I’m excited about where we are.”

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