“Why not this year?”

That is the team motto implemented by senior captain Kelli Corless for the 2010 Lady Bulldogs soccer team.

The Lady Bulldogs are coming off another winning season in which they made it to the second round of the national tournament before falling to eventual champion North Carolina.

Caroline Simpson is one of the top returning players for the Georgia soccer team.

Georgia broke into the history books last season, as the 15 wins were the second-most in school history.

Last year’s team also accomplished a feat that had never been done in the team’s 15-year history — making it to the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive season.

The Lady Bulldogs return 20 players from last year’s record-breaking squad, including last year’s SEC Freshman of the Year, Laura Eddy.

The Lady Bulldogs also boast a top-30 recruiting class, which includes Parade High School All-American Torri Allen.

With a solid core of returning players and a talented group of freshmen, Georgia looks not only to get back to the NCAA tournament for a record fourth consecutive season, but to contend for an SEC and national championship.

Coach Steve Holeman comes into his first season in Athens with high expectations.

“We expect to compete for an SEC championship every year,” Holeman said.

This will be no easy task, as he expects nearly eight teams to contend for the SEC title and to make the NCAA tournament, including defending SEC champion South Carolina, who knocked the Lady Bulldogs out of the conference tournament last season.

Despite having postseason expectations, Holeman is looking no further than its home opener against Duke.

“Our focus right now is on Duke,” Holeman said. “They are an incredible team.”

Most of the Lady Bulldogs are still playing club ball and doing individual training, but will start work as a team in the next couple of weeks.

Corless is confident the energy brought in by the upcoming freshman class, mixed with the experience of returning veteran players, is enough to win an SEC championship as well as a national one.

Senior Alex Hooker shares her teammate’s confidence in this year’s squad.

Hooker feels like the new coaching staff and upcoming freshman class are leading the team in a new direction.

“It’s going to be different,” Hooker said. “He is nationally well-known and is bringing in a lot of new things he wants to do.”

Hooker also said Holeman has the players working harder than ever before.

Holeman made very clear that nobody has a starting position yet.

“I know we have some All-SEC players but it’s an equal playing field,” said Holeman.