After losing seven seniors on a varsity team of 10 players, the Mercer Island boys golf team knows this fall is about a transition, but hopefully not a change.

The team, which finished third in state last spring, heads back to the links with a new team, but the same attitude.

“It’s a totally different team this year, so it’s been going really well,” said head coach Tyson Peters. “We graduated seven out of 10 last year, so it’s in many senses a rebuilding year. We’ve got some good, new young guys and everybody realizes that they have a lot to learn and that they have a lot of improvement to get to where the team was before. They’ve been really great to work with because they’ve been really open to what we’re teaching.”

In the team’s first three preseason outings, the Islanders have earned a first, second and third place in the field of four. Peters said while those only feature six players, rather than the regular 10, he has used it as a chance to rotate players, seeing who works where.

“But when we’re approaching those, you’re not sending your top players,” he explained. “In a normal varsity match we send 10, but in those we can only bring six. My varsity is not as clear as it has been in the past, so we’re trying out different guys and seeing how they are doing.”

This fall the team is led by senior captain Kevin Liu.

“We’re younger, but really eager to play this year,” he said. While Liu is the only captain, Peters said he has become a very valuable asset to the team.

“Kevin is just a fantastic captain, he’s just been a great team leader, which has been fantastic,” said the coach.

In year’s past the Islanders have been state competitors, sending at least one person to the state competition in the spring for several years. This year, while it’s still a goal, Peters said there are different goals on the horizon.

“Everybody recognizes that our goals are slightly different this year,” he said. “In the past it’s been we’re going to win state and be in first place. So this year some of them have simple goals like I want to letter or I want the team to go better than .500. My goal for the team would be to finish in the top three of the eight teams in our league, which I think that they are capable of. My other goal would be to, we have one of the longest lasting streaks at state as far as having at least one player there, so it would be to continue to have  at least one player qualify for state.”

For Liu, he would like to see his teammates go out to every match and fight for their wins.

“I would like to see us be competitive in KingCo,” said the captain. “I would really like us to make the regular season matches count.”

For a team used to being at the top, the motivation to do it again is strong.

“I think that’s part of the motivation for these guys. They don’t want to be that team that doesn’t continue the success or legacy of the program. I think that’s why they’ve been pretty committed to working hard,” said Peters.

Helping the team this fall, is their schedule, which features some of the league’s toughest competitions as home matches for the Islanders.

“I think what it is is that we’re playing the better teams here (at Twin Rivers Golf Course),” said Peters. “The positive of that is that we’ll have home course advantage, which I think for a team like us is going to maybe get us to second or third in the league. Our constant goal is that if we as a team can break 200 then we most likely win. we’ve done that one time so far. The one time we won that’s what we did.”

The Islanders will host Bellevue, Thursday, Sept. 15 at Twin Rivers Golf Course in Fall City. The match begins at 3:45 p.m.