As much fun as a winning season is for coaches, players and fans, it always results in one thing: a higher level of expectation that the members of the following year's team will inevitably face.
After the BYU women's soccer team's incredible run through last year's NCAA tournament, in which the team advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history and went on to finish fifth, this year's team has a new standard to live up to.
And while the team faces this new standard with a number of challenges -- a young team featuring only three seniors; a departed All-American midfielder; a brutal schedule with games against seven teams from last year's NCAA tournament, four of which finished in the top 25 -- coach Jennifer Rockwood is optimistic about her team's chances.
"I think this team has a tremendous amount of potential," Rockwood said. "We're probably deeper than we've ever been ... but we just have some inexperience. We're trying to replace seven starters on our team that did so well, and that's going to take some time."
As in years past, Rockwood will turn to the younger players on her team to fill the gaps.
"We're replacing a lot of those starters with freshmen and sophomores who don't have many minutes for us," she said. "It's going to be a process; we have to be patient, we have to stay positive. We also have to believe in ourselves because I really feel that this is going to be a great team, hopefully sooner than later."
Entering her tenth year, Rockwood has established herself among the elite coaches of women's soccer, with a winning percentage (.767) that would make LaVell Edwards jealous.
And although Rockwood is no stranger to challenges, having taken her team from the club level to the upper echelon of the NCAA, she must now guide her young players through a rocky start after losing the season's first two games, 3-1 in the season opener at Idaho State and 1-0 in Monday's home opener against Kansas.
To provide leadership and experience for the young team, Rockwood will depend on senior forward Krissa Campbell, junior forward Jaime Rendich, sophomore defender Claire Thomas and junior defender Charlene Lui.
Despite the slow start, Campbell and her teammates still look ahead to what this team is capable of achieving.
"As you sit back and watch our first two games," Campbell said, "in each game, there's about 20 minutes where we look great, then it's like disaster and kind of chaotic afterwards. It's a matter of we're young, and we don't quite know each other yet, but we've seen the glimpses of how good we can be, so we know we can be good."
Despite the two early losses, Rockwood is not hitting the panic button, and said she is pleased with the way her team has responded to the early adversity.
"They've been very positive and they've worked very hard," she said. "I really feel good about this team and I really feel good about the future of it."
But perhaps the biggest task the team faces is replacing All-American Aleisha Rose. The graduated midfielder was the heart and soul of the team for the last four years on both sides of the ball, setting a new school record for career assists (47) and being named last year's Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
In the first two games, that position was filled by freshman Natalie Nate. And while Rockwood said other players will need to step up and help Nate fill the void, she is high on the newcomer's skill.
"It's a lot to ask of a freshman," Rockwood said. "But she's a tremendous player. She's clearly proven herself during this preseason to be one of our top players, and I think she's been playing very well the first two games."
To make sure players work together to fill that hole and to promote team cohesion, Rockwood has set a single, simple goal for her team: get better with every game.
"I think if we're able to take lots of baby steps, we'll be where we need to be when conference starts," she said. "That's our goal - to be playing our best when conference starts and then to make a run for the conference championship. I certainly feel this team is capable of it, but we certainly have a lot of work ahead of us."
While the team sets the goal of winning the Mountain West title every year, that feat has become more pressing to the players after missing out last year.
"I want to win conference," Campbell said. "We won conference my freshman and sophomore years, and it sucked not to able to wear that conference ring last year. I want to get another ring."
And while it may not be an official goal, there's one more crucial task on the team's mind: beat the Utes.
After dominating Utah for the first seven years (the Cougars won every matchup from their beginnings in 1995 until 2002), BYU has lost the last three, including a heartbreaking overtime loss in the first round of the 2002 NCAA tournament and a 2-0 loss in last year's MWC championship match.
"It's our biggest game of the year no matter what," Rendich said. "Everyone always says 'Don't look that far ahead,' but we have to. They've beaten us the last three times we've played them, and we just want to kill them."
But with the Utah game still two months away, the team is concentrating on developing its potential and winning now. Players have their first opportunity tonight at 7, when Northwestern visits the Cougars at South Stadium.
"We wanted to go undefeated at home, but we'll start fresh again [tonight]," Campbell said, going on to stress the importance of fan support for the team.
"We love our crowd," she said. "They're so into our games and they bring our best out."