The 2005-06 Saint Joseph's College women's basketball roster returns only one starter from last year's 16-11, D-3 Independents Northeast Championship-winning squad. Coach Deb Reardon adds eight first-year players to an already inexperienced core, but as she begins her second season in Standish, there is a contagious enthusiasm about the season ahead.

Several underclassmen are ready to step into the vacated roles of graduated D-3 Player of the Year runner-up Margaret Blauvelt and All-Independent Second Team point guard Val Dumais. In addition, the graduation of Laura Pelkey and Megan Tetrault leaves two more starting jobs up for grabs. Also lost to graduation was forward Liz Ahern.

Returning to the starting line-up is junior Kaylin Regula (Windham, ME) who will serve as captain and lead the team on and off the court. Regula will see time at the guard and small forward positions. Senior guard Brittany Rauscher (Oakland, ME) will spend most of her time in the two spot and is expected to carry much of the scoring load.

After gaining valuable experience working against Blauvelt in practice last season, sophomore post players Megan Farrell (Abington, MA) and Marie Lint (Orono, ME) have earned starting roles in the 4 and 5 positions.

Rounding out the starting five is first-year Sasha Bowen (Boston, MA) who will take over the point position and lead the young squad.

Senior Danielle Somma (Gray, ME) heads the list of talented returning guards including sophomores Deb Drown (Gorham, ME) and Sarah Willis (Buckland, MA). This group brings much needed depth to the line-up.

Newcomers Alysn Ludwig (Waldoboro, ME), Sarah Banks (Swans Island, ME) and Kasey Kaldro (N. Anson, ME) will also challenge for playing time in the guard spots.

Coach Reardon will look to first-year players, sophomores Yoandree Pierre-Jacques (Providence, RI) and Ashton Coutu (Danville, VT) to learn the system and provide rebounding in the post positions.

First-year forwards Andrea Enright (Holyoke, MA) and Mallory Clark (Ipswich, MA) will work to earn time at the forward spots.

The squad will be challenged early and often with a competitive schedule which includes #1 ranked Southern Maine, 04-05 NCAA tournament participant Maine Maritime and Maine-Farmington.

Coach Reardon expects growing pains during the first part of the season, but is optimistic about the development of the team during second semester. "We relied heavily on the starters last season and now players will have to step up and take on much more important roles in order for us to be successful." The good news is that there are fifteen players looking forward to this opportunity.