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Emblazoned on the practice shirts of Bonneville High's girls' soccer team is "10-21." It's certainly not the record they hope to achieve, nor is it a tribute to a couple players on the team. Instead it's a goal, to be one of the two teams left playing in Rio Tinto Stadium on Oct. 21 for the Class 4A state title game.

"We want to go to state, we want to win and we want to be undefeated," Lakers forward and UVU commit Bailee Wooden said about her team's expectations in 2016. "We want to remain undefeated throughout the season, but we're taking it one game at a time."

The Lakers are off to a good start, beginning the season with an undefeated showing in the Ogden Cup Tournament, then following that up with four more consecutive wins — including against region rivals Woods Cross and East — to bring their record to 7-0.

Going undefeated seemed like an impossible task for a team that has struggled to regain relevancy after winning a state title in 2012. After claiming the top prize four seasons ago, the Lakers expected to be contenders for years to come, but have not made it past the second round of the 4A playoffs and have been stuck in the middle of the Region 5 standings despite having some talented rosters.

"It's been a frustrating few years," Bonneville coach Robert McDaniel said about the follow-up to the 2012 state title. "We've been successful; we've been a good program since 2008, but we've struggled the past three years — we've underachieved. We've had the talent and the skill, especially last year. Some years we were young, but last year we had these girls as juniors who started as freshmen."

McDaniel, now in his sixth year at the helm of the Lakers program, has had to change his in-season thought process in order to make the team follow suit.

"I've had to change things and just put in a different mentality," McDaniel said. "This year, the girls have adopted that different mindset. They came in more ready than ever. They're more mature … they know we have to do it together, not individually, not two or three girls on the field, but everyone on the bench."

Senior midfielder and Snow College commit Makensie Price echoed her coach's sentiment about becoming more of a team, rather than nine girls feeding one star.

"In the past, we relied too much on one player to do everything for us," Price said. "This year, even though Bailey [Wooden] has scored a lot of goals for us, it's still more evenly spread. A lot more girls are scoring and everyone is spreading the ball around."

Playing as a unit goes a long way when you're trying to reach the top of Region 5. Fellow region rivals Woods Cross, East, Highland and Box Elder all have only two losses or less on their résumés, and would love to be the ones to knock the Lakers from the ranks of the unbeaten.

From past experience, McDaniel knows that taking the top spot in the rigorous region is a must if Bonneville want to reach its goal of playing on Oct. 21. The last time the Lakers finished in the top spot was 2012, the year they won it all.

"It's key," McDaniel said about finishing as the top team in Region 5. "That's the goal, that's the discussion we have often in the beginning of the season. During the season, it's more in the back of our heads. That's one of the adjustments we've had to make, the one game at a time mentality. But, we know that that's what we'll probably need to do to get to the ultimate goal on the back of our shirts."

Focusing on one game at a time hasn't proven too difficult for the Lakers. They have been playing against the region's best players on the club level, so they vigorously prepare for every matchup.

"It's super-competitive with all of the club teams around here," Wooden said. "We all know at least two girls on every team from playing through the 'comp' level. It's fun to keep competing at the higher levels because we form a lot of rivalries over the years. We don't take anyone for granted because of that."

After being the team that many took for granted over the past few years, that's exactly the kind of attitude that McDaniel has striven to instill into his players. That they look forward to every game, and earn their way to the top.

"There's no entitlement with this group — they realize they have to earn everything they get this year," McDaniel said. "You've got to earn it every day at practice, earn it every game on the field. We know we're a good team, but no one else believes that as much as we do. We're earning that title."

Earning the attention they have received recently is just fine by Price and the rest of the senior-laden Bonneville squad, but it doesn't mean they are satisfied with the noise.

"Every day we have to come out and compete, because no one is going to let us win easy," Price said. "We've got to stay focused on the goals day to day. We won't get sidetracked by the newspapers and the attention." Classification overviews

Class 5A • The favorite in 5A has to be two-time defending champion Davis, which is currently riding a 30-game winning streak. BYU commits Olivia Wade and Mikayla Colohan lead an incredibly successful group of seniors who are aiming to become only the fourth team in state history to complete a three-peat (Alta, Mountain View, Olympus). Ole Miss commit Grace Johnson and the Viewmont Vikings are expected to be the Darts' stiffest competition, but don't sleep on Weber and Fremont from Region 1.

Class 4A • Bonneville looks poised to return to championship form with seniors Bailee Wooden, Makensie Price and Tayah Reynolds leading a talented core of players. Woods Cross is certainly still in the running for Region 5, with the Utah State-bound duo of Rachel and Sara Noel pulling the strings. Maddie Vorkink and defending champion Skyline will certainly look to return to the state final for the fourth straight year, with Alta rounding out the list of contenders.

Class 3A • Tooele has been the surprise of 3A so far this season, as an undefeated start with wins over several 5A and 4A schools has the Buffaloes sitting pretty atop Region 10. Dixie has blown by nearly all of its competition behind the play of Starlee Woodbury, outscoring its opponents by a 22-1 margin through four games. Daviana Vaka and Juan Diego look to be in the mix after an up-and-down start to the season, with defending champion Logan looking to make another deep playoff run behind Demi Lopez.

Class 2A • Autumn Rogerson and Parowan have rattled off five straight wins to start the season, but defending champion Millard seeks to retake Region 13 behind the stellar goalkeeping of McKenna Rowell. Waterford has also gotten off to an undefeated start thanks to the tandem of Makenna Mumford and Natalie Wall, but Rowland Hall-St. Marks is coming into its own with four straight wins after an opening-day loss.