The only constant this offseason was change, inspiring high school coaches across the region to adopt the words "uncertain" and "uncertainty" as their anthems du jour.

Maybe the best news of all for girls' soccer — and other fall sports — is that there's certainty — finally — in a start date.

"I think I would have to say the toughest part for me/my team would be the constant feeling of uncertainty," Ledyard coach Emily Lehet said. "I was so proud of the work the girls were putting in virtually all summer in spite of the fact they weren't sure if we were going to have a season. Their dedication made it much more difficult to continue to tell them that I wasn't sure what was going to happen even as we approached and passed our original start date. It was really frustrating.

"Now we are just looking at the season week to week. We are still very aware that this could go away at any time which has helped the girls appreciate the time that we do have together. We are just hopeful we can keep it going."

Lehet sounds a lot like Waterford coach Chris Ghiglia, who, like all his other colleagues, went from worrying about Xs and Os to mask-wearing in a hurry.

"The girls have adjusted really well to the protocols with social distancing and wearing masks as they want to do their part to keep everyone safe," Ghiglia said. "They miss certain aspects that they were so accustomed to like team meetings in our locker room. But they are thrilled to be playing. I'd say the biggest challenge is the uncertainty of everything. We are hearing about cases popping up, football being totally modified, and they know the season could just end at a certain point.

"On a positive we have been trying to instill to enjoy every day you're on the field, enjoy the game and your teammates and just play with everything you have to give. It's been an absolute blast up to this point so we just hope we get to see it through."

The Eastern Connecticut Conference should be quite competitive this year from north to south. Three players — Abbie Burgess of Killingly, Lindsey Price of Plainfield and Meredith Healy of East Lyme — made the GameTime CT Top 25 Players to Watch list in the state along with Old Lyme's Emily DeRoehn.

Now the coaches hope the season actually plays to its finish.

"I think the biggest challenge this offseason was getting everyone mentally prepared for a season we weren't absolutely positive we were going to have," NFA coach Taylor Shannon said. "With rules and protocols changing right up until the week before our first official start date, it was hard to imagine this non-traditional season with concrete　protocols for the duration and how they would affect the athletes' performances and safety, like wearing a mask while playing."

m.dimauro@theday.com