WELLSBURG–There will be plenty of fresh faces in the girls lineup for the Brooke Bruins in 2023, similar to the boys’ team.

But unlike the boys, who are presently dealing with a rash of injuries, the girls’ roster changes are because of graduation losses which saw four starters depart.

Gone are seasoned post players Ava Bolen and Bailey Serevicz, along with guards Angelina Lippoli and Michela Villa.

Brooke entered 2022-23 with a number of returners back and finished an even .500 against a daunting schedule.

The Bruins won only 12 games, but were competitive in nearly all of their losses, save for three against a powerful Wheeling Park team that will only be better this season.

That’s with experience. Now comes the opportunity to see how a majority of fresh-faced Bruins do against an equally arduous slate — that is, with one additional caveat.

“We play an extremely tough schedule, and this season, we’ve added a road game against Morgantown,” head coach Amy Serevicz lamented with a subtle laugh.

She knows her team faces an uphill battle, not only with the regular season schedule, but also if the Bruins have any hope of advancing out of the section, they’ll likely have to beat not only Wheeling Park, but also Morgantown.

And in case anyone forgot, Morgantown beat Wheeling Park in the AAA state championship game last season.

Brooke’s varsity roster will feature just four upperclassmen as the majority of the lineup will consist of four sophomores and five freshmen.

One of those seniors, Rylee Schwertfeger, has been on varsity her entire career and posted a number of starters as a junior.

She’ll be joined by junior Kennedie Valero as the two upperclassmen with experience in the program.

The other two? Senior Sienna Homo and Juliette Bouvier are both exchange students. Bouvier also played on the Bruins’ soccer team and has some basketball experience which will help.

She’ll look to follow in the footsteps of Villa, an Italian exchange student who performed well in the starting lineup last season.

The sophomore class is four players strong, three of which all saw time on varsity as freshmen. That trio includes Melia McCullough, Lorelei Costlow and Marionna DiPaolo.

All should see there minutes increase greatly. Fellow sophomore Jazmyn Wood is a multi-sport athlete also in the hunt.

The freshmen class is also the largest at six players strong. It includes Maggie Diserio, Rilyn Bowman, Andrea Bolen, Alexis Kauffman, Savannah Alcantara, and Emily McLaughlin.

Yes, there are some familiar last names in that list, including Bolen, as in the younger sister of recently graduated Ava Bolen, along with Bowman, the younger sister of 6-3 post stalwart Hope Bowman.

Serevicz noted there is potential in the freshmen ranks, including the two younger sisters, but cautioned that each is her own player and not to heap that level of pressure on them early.