WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest women's soccer team began its preparation for the 2009 season with a pair of practices on Thursday at the Spry Stadium practice fields.

"I was pleasantly surprised with our first day of practice," head coach Tony da Luz said. "We had our fitness tests yesterday and had a good showing from everybody. There were a lot of personal bests. The play that we had this morning and this afternoon was quality. There were some surprises from some of the young players so I'm happy for the first day."

After practicing for an hour and a half on Thursday morning, the team went through a two hour training session in the afternoon.

"We're trying to emphasize that we want to be an attacking team," da Luz said. "We want to hold the ball as long as possible and pick our chances to attack. We played a different formation last year, so it's an adjustment. There will be new personnel in different places, so there's a lot we have to iron out."

Wake Forest returns seven starters from the 2008 team that finished the season with a 13-8-0 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Deacs also welcome seven newcomers in 2009.

The Demon Deacons return their top two goal scorers from the 2008 season in seniors Jill Hutchinson and Allie Sadow. Hutchinson scored 10 goals in 2008, while Sadow found the back of the net six times.

Wake Forest also brings back three players that have seen time with a pair of U.S. Youth National Teams. Senior Kaley Fountain was a member of the victorious U.S. U-20 WNT at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in December. Junior midfielder Bianca D'Agostino and senior defender Caitlin Farrell traveled to England with the U.S. U-23's for a pair of games in July.