In 2014, the eastern regional champion Washington girls’ soccer team finished out the regular season with an unprecedented 17-2 finish and an Eastern Plains Conference championship, both good enough to decisively award the Pam Pack the No. 1 overall seed, relatively uncontested.

But this season, as Washington continues to find its identity, filling the voids left by recent graduates with unproven freshmen, the east is gaining strength. Now, even last season’s impressive record wouldn’t come close to earning the defending state runner-ups a No. 1 seed.

“Right now, I’m taking it one skill at a time,” said head coach Ed Rodriguez, who is tasked with mixing and matching a roster of 10 freshmen. “We’re starting to get a little more aggressive, starting to talk to each other better and trying to find each other. I can’t measure by yards, I measure by inches and that way I can see the progress.”

While teams like Carrboro, Clinton and Croatan were about the only eastern teams that could have endangered the Pam Pack’s championship hopes last year, it’s Washington looking at a steep climb back to the eastern regional in 2015.

Carrboro, First Flight and Dixon, powering its way through the East Central Conference, are all still unbeaten, while Roanoke Rapids, Salisbury and Clinton continue to sit at just one loss. And while the powers have all but separated themselves from the rest, teams like West Davidson (9-3), Currituck County (8-2-1) and Franklinton (8-2) have proved formidable. Simply put, in terms of the east, Washington is no longer in a league of its own.

Sitting at 8-4 and in first place in a weak Eastern Plains Conference, the Pam Pack are fresh off of a 3-0 victory over North Pitt, arguably the biggest threat to the defending champs. Washington, down a few starters, was forced to field six freshmen and a sophomore. Up 1-0 at the half, the visitors closed the game out in the second half with two timely goals from Sydney Edwards and Caitlyn Scott, a testament to the space the Pam Pack has built between the four other teams in the table, even in the midst of a pseudo-rebuilding phase.

They’re far from the days of 9-0 blowouts (had 16 of them last season), but a cool, calm and collected Rodriguez continues to stay optimistic, building for the future by getting freshmen valuable playing time, while also focusing on the present, realizing that playoff success is still a possibility.

“Making it to the playoffs, home games, that’s the goal. If we win the conference, you’re guaranteed at least two home games,” he said.

“We’re just trying to get all the girls playing time, but you can’t leave too many inexperienced girls out there. You need someone to guide them and I’m trying to mix the talent with the inexperience.”

So far, there have been six constants in a lineup that has, otherwise, varied from game to game. Midfielders Warner Little, Edwards and Scott, a Division I commit who leads the team in scoring with 24 goals, have been a consistent source of production, while senior defender Anna McLawhorn has anchored and instructed a young backline that’s experienced a bit a learning curve thus far.

Above all else, it’s been the goaltending, arguably the most important piece to a soccer team, that’s been the backbone behind the Pam Pack’s winning record.

After a historic season in the net in 2014, senior Emily Alligood is giving up 2.2 goals per game, higher than last season’s total of .45 a game, but she’s been tested, having to make 75 saves in support of a young defense.

The surprise so far has been freshman backup keeper Samantha Sheppard, who has logged 369 minutes in net for the Pam Pack. In 13 appearances, Sheppard has yet to allow a single goal and has come through with 24 saves.

‘The fact that I have Samantha, it gives me options if I need experience in the field,” Rodriguez said. “I can put Emily there and if I need someone more experienced in goal, I can put Emily back there. It gives me some flexibility.”

Having played six of its last nine games on the road, the Pam Pack have their final stretch of winnable away games in front of them — Tuesday at North Johnston (6-6-1, 2-1 EPC) and Thursday at Beddingfield (2-10, 1-3 EPC) — before closing the season with three home conference games and a road game at J.H. Rose.

For now, despite the team’s youth, the goal is the same — win out and be in the conversation for a high playoff seed.