The game plan for the Mankato Loyola/Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial boys soccer team has changed for this season.

After graduating the team’s top two goal scorers and the state’s top career point scorer, that means more of the emphasis will be on defense, centered around senior captain Nolan Meyer.

“We’re going to focus on defense a little more now because we lost the core of our defense from last year,” Meyer said. “At the same, time we need to pump up our offense because our two biggest playmakers from last year aren’t here anymore. It’s a little conundrum because we have to work on two things at once.”

Gone from the 2007 squad are four players who coach Cyrus Azarbod has been able to rely on for the past few years, including his son, Michael, who is the state’s all-time leader in career points.

“Last year we were so offensive minded. We were just going to score and we did that,” coach Azarbod said. “This year we’re going to play more defensive, more close marking and be able to stay in the game as much as possible while capitalizing on opportunities.”

This season’s captains are Meyer, Sean O’Dea and Josh Klaustermeier.

O’Dea is moving from defense to midfield and Klaustermeier will play his right midfield spot again. Nam Nguyen will move into Michael Azarbod’s center midfield position.

“There’s more pressure on the defense and more pressure on the offense to capitalize on every opportunity we can get,” Meyer said. “We can’t make too many mistakes or we’ll lose games.”

As for Meyer, he is moving from the right defense position he played last season to sweeper because the team also lost its sweeper from a year ago.

“There’s a lot of added pressure because I didn’t play sweeper last year,” he said. “It’s a new position I’m not used to and being the last man, the last line of defense, you have to make (almost) every play.”

Meyer considers himself a captain who tries to show the younger players what to do instead of telling them and hoping they understand.

“If they hear you and don’t see you actually doing it,” Meyer said. “You’re kind of a hypocrite. There’s a lack of respect that might happen there so I try and lead by example.”

Matt Blaine returns as goalkeeper for the Crusaders and a group of players including Zach Hermer, Kyle Murray, Isaac Schultz and Corbin Brocker will try and fill the void at forward left by Adam Gaspar.

The Crusaders begin their season at 4 p.m. Friday in the Crusader Classic at the Loyola field.

“It’s back to basic training to rebuild the program,” Azarbod said. “It may not show in the results this year, but in a couple of years it will.”