When the Marshalltown girls soccer team kicks off against Pella on Monday to start the season, there will be a new coach calling the shots.

Leigh Hornbuckle has taken the reigns at the head man of the Bobcat girls after serving as assistant coach under former head coach Stacy Galema for the last three years. Before practice on Friday, Hornbuckle said having familiarity with the girls before taking over as head coach has made the transition much smoother.

“The seniors this year were actually my first year of coaching here,” he said. “I’ve been coaching for close to 15 years and I’ve been playing soccer for 32 years now. Stepping into these shoes was a big thing and I had to give it a lot of thought, but it came down to the fact that I want what’s best for my girls and I didn’t think there was anybody else out there that could give them what they need.”

Hornbuckle takes over a program that has seen its share of struggles over the past few years. Last year Marshalltown finished 2-12 and the last time the Bobcats had a winning record was when they went 9-7 in 2014.

Hornbuckle has experienced that over the past three years as MHS has gone 13-36 in that span, so knowing that he said right now he’s more worried about changing the culture of the program.

“My first philosophy is the winning will come second, we will have fun,” he said. “If we aren’t having fun and enjoying what we are doing, there’s no point in doing the sport. Let’s have fun, let’s be aggressive and win some games.”

In just the first few weeks of practice, Hornbuckle said he’s already seen that philosophy play out on the pitch.

“There’s a lot of positive momentum, a lot of the girls are really excited for the season, there’s a lot of returners,” he said. “We have 11 girls who played varsity last year and they have really stepped up and they have taken over the team and been true leaders. We have a really favorable schedule this year, we are looking forward to some good soccer this year, having fun and winning some games.”

Not only does Hornbuckle have quite a bit of experience on the varsity squad, he said there’s been an influx of interest in the program from top to bottom.

“When I started coaching here four years ago we had a total of 30 girls, maybe 40 girls out for the sport. I think we have over 70 this year, it’s expanded a lot,” he said. “It’s good to know the girls, the boys, everybody loves soccer here and we are trying to do the best we can for the girls.”

While there are quite a few girls looking to represent the Bobcats, it will be the absence of two in particular that will be prevalent. Marshalltown lost two great players to graduation in McKenna Major and Victoria Johnson, and both did quite a bit for the Bobcats in their time.

Johnson locked down the goal last season with 128 saves last year, tied for the 10th-best mark in Class 3A. Major led the team in goals with four last year, her second-straight season as the team’s leading scorer.

“Losing McKenna and Victoria, that’s very big, but we have numerous girls that have stepped up that are really athletic and traditionally just powerhouses at what they do,” Hornbuckle said. “Not only are they good at the sport but, being a teacher, I am proud that they are stepping up not only in the game but in the classroom too. That gives them that extra leadership quality, filling those holes is tough but I think we have it figured out.”

Filling the gap between the goalposts will be junior Avygail Smith, who had five saves and no goals allowed while filling in for Johnson in spots last season. Hornbuckle said Smith brings a lot of the same qualities to the table as Johnson did, to the point of a coach asking if it was still the same goalkeeper from a season ago during a recent scrimmage.

As for the other side of the ball, Hornbuckle said it will be girls like Jade Tejeda, Aida Almanza and Anna DiIorio who they will rely on to find the back of the net.

“With Aida and Jade, they are both powerhouses that can run forever,” he said. “Anna has some speed and we have some other girls that are keeping up with them. We have a good group this year and I am really excited to get this going.”

Both Tejada and Almanza are experienced cross country runners, which Hornbuckle said plays into his system that focused on tiring out the other team.

“I am big into conditioning. The girls knew from the beginning that I love to do conditioning, if a team is going to beat us in speed they’re not going to beat us in length,” he said. “We will catch them ultimately and beat them in the last five minutes if we have to.”

It’s the defensive in front of Smith that Hornbuckle said he is most excited to see play. Girls like Isabel Ibarra and Madison Schumacher will be big keys on a defense that their coach said should have them in almost every game they play.

“I would like to think we will look very aggressive, come out strong from the kickoff. We have some really nice defensive girls, we have some very strong defense,” he said. “Our new goalie is pretty solid, she’s played in club and we have a good backup. We are pretty solid all the way through, we are a little overloaded in our midfield but that’s good because I can take a lot of the midfield and move them down to defense if I need to.”

Because of the large amount of girls out this season, Hornbuckle said there has actually been a lot of competition for the spots that are still up in the air, which is only making his team better.

“I have a lot of girls that are really fighting for our last spots. Today and attitudes on Monday will really make the roster, that’s what it comes down to,” he said. “If the attitude is poor on Monday, I would rather have somebody who has the right attitude and is willing to work than someone who is good and puts in half the effort.”

The Bobcat girls will get their first taste of competition on Monday when they travel to Pella for a 5:30 p.m. kickoff, the first of four-straight road games to start the season for MHS.

“The first game is always tough when it’s against Pella, who is traditionally a powerhouse. But if you think you’re going to win it, you’re going to win it,” Hornbuckle said. “Go out, play our game as best as you can and have fun. We have a favorable season and some girls who are going to step up and I think we have a really good chance this year.”

Marshalltown will finally have its home opener on April 23 against Southeast Polk.

In his first season leading the way, Hornbuckle said success won’t necessarily translate to marks in the win column this season, but right now that’s the least of his worries.

“Winning is great, but I want to see that the girls have improved,” he said. “If they improve for just five minutes and they are done, that’s not great, but from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ from the first to the 90th minute, if they improve at all I consider that a success.”