By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

RESERVE — Defense was the order of the day as Riverside faced off with host McGehee Monday, but as tough as the Rebels were in that regard, it wasn’t enough to emerge with a victory.

McGehee captured a 1-0 win in the season opener for both teams, as Riverside attempts to build on a winning 2013-14 season while retooling a roster that lost some key pieces from a year ago.

Coach Mert Deger, in his second season with the Lady Rebels, said the game could have truly gone either way.

“We had a pretty strong defensive effort,” Deger said. “We had a chance at getting up on them. They made good on their chance.

“We lost a couple of seniors from last year and we’ll need to replicate some of their production elsewhere. I thought it was a decent start though, even though we’d like to have come out with the win.”

Among the key departures from last season’s team was leading scorer Jordan Duhon. The Rebels (0-1) are not starved for offensive weapons, however: Maddie Duhon and Caitlin “Cookie” Roussel are back on that end, while defensively the Rebels can rely on goalkeeper Mackenzie Saucier-Meyer, who despite being just a sophomore accumulated a lot of experience in her first two seasons.

“We’re young, but those girls form our backbone and give us something to build around,” Deger said. “We want to get back to the playoffs and have another winning season, and they give us a chance to get off to a nice start on that goal.”