A brief glance at the King’s Fork High School girls’ soccer team’s 1-2 record to start the season does not come close to telling the Lady Bulldogs’ story.

“We probably have the most overall skill that we’ve ever had at varsity,” coach Mike Marston said.

But the Lady Bulldogs have played two of the better teams in the area — Hickory High School and Western Branch High School — and are still working on consistently playing well together in the face of some key changes.

“I’ve really come into the season knowing that we were going to experience some growing pains because we were filling at least two critical positions with players that had no varsity high school experience,” Marston said.

King’s Fork is also breaking in a new formation.

Marston said mistakes resulting from growing pains have been what cost the Lady Bulldogs the games against Hickory and Western Branch, which were both 2-1 losses.

Opening the season at Hickory on March 17, King’s Fork got on the scoreboard thanks to senior Logan Montel. Her team might have scored more but was thwarted by strong play from the Lady Hawks’ goalkeeper.

On the other side of the field, “we made one mistake to end up giving them a penalty kick at the end of the match,” Marston said. But despite the loss, “overall, I thought we played pretty well in that game.”

The next day, the Lady Bulldogs defeated visiting Indian River High School 5-1, fueled by three goals from Montel and one apiece from juniors Rebecca Washburn and Cydney Nichols.

It was Tuesday that the host Lady Bruins defeated King’s Fork, with Nichols putting in her team’s lone goal.

Despite the losses, Marston noted his team builds offensive opportunities better than it has done in the past, stringing five or six passes together rather than relying completely on the through ball.

The roster gives good reason for Marston to be confident, as many players return from the 2015 squad that generated the most wins in a season by a soccer team — boys’ or girls’ — in school history. It went 14-4, advancing as far as the Region 4A South quarterfinals.

A few key players from that team did graduate, though, including Rachel Gist, Lindsay Ransome and Hannah Washburn.

The 2016 Lady Bulldogs feature 19 team members — four seniors, 10 juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen.

“The hope is that they continue to develop throughout the season and that we’re playing our best at the end and can make a deeper run into regionals and qualify for states,” Marston said.

King’s Fork is now part of Conference 17, which Marston expects to be more competitive than the Ironclad Conference. The Lady Bulldogs’ biggest threat is likely to come from Great Bridge High School, which handed them one of their two regular season losses last year.

Among the key standouts for King’s Fork this year is junior center back Skylar Wall.

“Everything we do kind of is predicated on Skylar’s ability in the back to really neutralize any attacking threat and to keep the rest of our defense organized,” Marston said.

Wall has even more responsibility this year, helping freshman goalkeeper Jordan Fransee.

Montel and Rebecca Washburn are once again set to be major difference-makers as center midfielders, though Montel has lately been making an impact at forward.

Nichols, one of the top goal-scorers in the area last year, is back, and she will be playing up front with junior forward Paige Summers.

Marston expects growth from sophomores Hannah Marston and Ashley Bido, both midfielders, though Bido is going to shift back to center back next to Wall.

Sophomore Olivia Blust, new to the varsity level, is playing outside back along with junior Nia Nickerson.

“We should have the strongest defensive group in the conference,” Coach Marston said.

Junior Alyssa Vick and senior Emma Marston also return, with Vick playing a more prominent role as an attacking midfielder.

King’s Fork hosts Lakeland High School on April 5.