During the last two soccer seasons, Adam Trautman has quietly gone about his business as a starting defender for Mankato West.

Each of those autumns ended with a section championship and a trip to the state tournament.

This year, Trautman’s senior season, he has to be a little more vocal.

“I have to be more of a leader,” he said. “Last year, I was just a guy who came out and worked hard every day. I came in this year figuring I I had to be a lot different.”

Trautman didn’t really have a choice. The West boys soccer program graduated 21 players from last year’s team, and only three starters — Trautman, junior goalkeeper Jace Leiferman and sophomore midfielder Andrew Rorick — are back this year.

“(Trautman’s) vocal out on the field; he gets the guys going,” Scarlets coach Leonard Woelfel said. “He makes sure everybody’s working.”

While the turnover on the roster may make 2008 seem like a rebuilding year, Trautman’s determined to try to keep the Scarlets’’ success going strong.

"(Going to state) meant a lot,” he said. “This team had never been to state before two years ago. It’s the best feeling, being at the Dome. ... We set the bar high. We have to keep it high.”

He’s not the only one who feels that way.

“Being the oldest guy now, there’s a lot more pressure on me,” said Trautman, an outside defender. “I hear it from other parents: ‘It’s your turn to lead the team to state.’ There’s a little pressure.”

The Scarlets graduated all-state defensemen Michael Baak and Ryan Schwickert, as well as high-scoring attackers Pat Trembley and Ricky Litchfield, whose numbers, Woelfel said, will be hard to replace.

But both coach and co-captain (the other captain is senior defender Jacob Gish) said there are good players ready to step in.

“We’ve got a few kids who are anxious to show their stuff,” Woelfel said, mentioning Rorick and attackers Jordan Franke, a junior, and Timothy Baerg, a sophomore.

Said Trautman: “There’s a lot of young talent on this team. We should be pretty solid. It’s going to hurt, losing all of those seniors, but we have a lot of young talent. This team should be good in the future. There’s been a lot of interest in West soccer, and that helps a lot. A lot of young kids saw us go to state last year, and they know they’ve got to work their butts off.”

Having some experience in back, including Leiferman in net and Trautman and Gish on defense, will help early on.