Goshen, IN — The Goshen College athletic department announced its official 2006-2007 women’s basketball season schedule Friday afternoon, bringing with it the conclusion of a whirlwind summer for the program.

Following the Leafs’ final game of the 2005-2006 season — a double-overtime, 70-66 win over Mid-Central Conference rival Grace College — it was expected that the team would retain 96.6 percent of its scoring and 97.2 percent of its rebounding into this season. Several players’ exits/hiatuses from the program have changed those numbers considerably, as fifth-year head coach Steve Wiktorowski looks to improve on a 6-24 overall record in 2005-2006 this season.

“Overall we’re more athletic than we have been and this is probably the best group of guards we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Wiktorowski said Friday afternoon. “But it’s a young group with only one senior and two juniors, one of which is a transfer. I think this team will be one that improves a great deal over the course of the season. We have a lot of talent here, we just have to get accustomed to playing with each other.”

The element of the unknown comes from four expected returnees placed out of the mix, with four talented freshmen and a junior college transfer coming in. Gone are would-be juniors Sarah Arnold (2.4 ppg in ’05-’06) and Kelsy McKee (9.3 ppg), both transferring due to personal reasons. Also out is rising sophomore Rachel Canen (9.7 ppg), a 2005-2006 MCC All-Freshman Team performer who left the program due to academic reasons. Would-be junior Carly Feldman (8.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg) will sit out the 2006-2007 season due to a personal circumstance, but hopes to be back in 2007-2008 according to Wiktorowski.

When the dust settled, Goshen’s returning numbers read more along the lines of 42.5 percent of its scoring and 52.6 percent of its rebounding coming back from 2005-2006, including the return of redshirt freshman Krystal Duensing who sat out all but three games in ’05-’06 with a torn ACL. Duensing started off her collegiate career on a tear, averaging 15.3 ppg and shooting 40 percent from three-point land before her season-ending injury. Wiktorowski hopes that she — along with an extremely talented incoming recruiting class — can help the Leafs’ returning players to higher levels of success this season.

“Krystal, (senior) Danielle Haney and (junior) Jess Buller will have to provide leadership this year for us, though we have some newcomers that have great leadership qualities in their own right,” Wiktorowski said. “I think we’ve got a pretty good schedule in place for this group. It’s one that will test us, but we also get a number of opportunities to play at home and get some rest over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, which is important for a young team.”

Goshen will toss it up 15 times at the Roman Gingerich Center in ’06-’07, equaling the second-highest amount of regular-season home contests in Wiktorowski’s tenure as head coach. The team also avoids any lengthy road swings, as just one three-game road trip appears along with four, two-game stays away from the Maple City.

Returning to home doesn’t equate to an easy schedule by any means, however, as the Leafs will face up to four teams ranked in the NAIA’s 2005-2006 Top 25 poll during pre-conference play. A home game against 15th-ranked Aquinas College on Nov. 11 will give Leafs’ fans the only chance to see ranked opponents at the Roman Gingerich Center before the MCC slate, but Goshen will play at Cornerstone University (ranked as high as 12th in 2005-2006) on Dec. 19 and Cardinal Stritch University (ranked as high as 13th) on Dec. 30. The team also has the chance to see Daemen College (ranked as high as 18th) at the Malone College Comfort Inn Tip-Off Tournament on Nov. 17-18 (schedule and pairings have yet to be released for the tournament).

Of course, a tough pre-conference slate is only fitting for the MCC grind that begins on Nov. 21 for the Leafs, as five of the league’s nine teams were ranked in the Top 25 at some point in 2005-2006. Highlighting those top teams’ visits to Goshen are Indiana Wesleyan University on Nov. 21 — a team that reached the 2006 NAIA Sweet Sixteen — and the University of St. Francis — a Final Four participant last season — which comes to the Roman Gingerich Center on Jan. 31.

“Just like every year, our conference is going to be extremely talented from top to bottom,” Wiktorowski said. “The teams that have been at the bottom of the league over the last few years have gotten better, and the teams at the top just keep maintaining their positioning. In my opinion, that’s why it’s the best conference in the nation at the NAIA Division II level.”

Goshen opens its overall slate against Andrews University on Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. That is the first leg of a men-women double-header against the Cardinals, with the men playing at 8 p.m.

To view the complete 2006-2007 Goshen women’s basketball season schedule, click the ‘schedule’ icon to the above left or simply click here.