In her first year at the helm of the Catasauqua field hockey program, Julie Bisci took her first steps to build a new foundation.

They were, however, ones that had some potholes along the way.

With struggling overall numbers and lack of a consistent scoring punch, the Roughies finished the year with an overall 3-14-1 mark, ending the year with 11 consecutive losses. They scored 14 total goals and were shutout 10 times during the season.

“We definitely understood some things as a team,” said Bisci. “We didn’t have a lot of girls to start the year and that began to wear on us as the season went on. Late in games, we could have used some more girls to help us out.

“We needed to step up as a team and score some goals. That will be a big priority for the future. There were some games where if we could have scored, we had a chance to pull some of those close games out.”

The Roughies will lose seven seniors from this year’s squad, but they will return a number of girls who gained some valuable experience for the future.

“All of our girls got some good playing time,” said Bisci. “Our freshmen this year were on the field for long periods of time. All of girls logged a lot of time. But we have to be able to grow from here to be successful next year. All of the girls coming back have to take their game to the next level.”

Among those returning next year will be incoming seniors Kenzie Bradley and Tyra Brown along with fellow senior Hannah Greenburg, who will be a three-year starter in the nets.

Bisci also plans to take the initiative to increase her depth for next year.

“Right now, we have one goalie and we may have one coming from middle school,” she said. “We have to see how it goes.

“I am doing my best to make myself known. I want to be a familiar face in the middle school to help our depth. I know we have five players coming in for next year. But I know there are some girls on the fence about playing next year. We do want to take the next step, but it will be a challenge.”