Sarah Luprek sees it every practice and game her Bulldogs compete in. Jersey Shore is 2-7 this year, but that doesn’t reflect the competitiveness and motivation Luprek and her players have this season.

This marks Luprek’s third season coaching the Bulldogs, but there’s been improvement. The first year, Luprek’s Bulldogs finished 0-18. Last year, they won three games. They’re already on their way to matching last year’s win total and, if the team has their way, surpassing that.

Any progress is good progress, and steps in the right direction even if they’re little steps.

“We’re a young team. This is only my third season with the girls and it’s been a lot of restructuring, rebuilding. Mainly focusing on that culture shift which we talked about a few times already. Jersey Shore program, we haven’t had winning season (in awhile), so I have a lot of high hopes for this younger crew,” Luprek said. “Majority of my starters are freshmen and sophomores, so a lot of young talent coming up that we can build and grow with. We have a lot of great senior leadership like Rees (Bierly), Autumn (Buttoroff) out there as a center back, to kind of help build and grow this program for us from the ground up.”

TIM WEIGHT/For the Express Jersey Shore’s Ellie Herr (8) dribbles the ball downfield as Central Mountain’s Reese Warner (23) defends her during a girls soccer game at Malinak Stadium earlier this season. Shore won 3-0.

Jersey Shore opened this year with a 3-1 win against Montgomery, but a string of seven losses followed. But the Bulldogs played well in some of those games.

There was just a three-goal loss at State College, followed by a tough 1-0 loss at Loyalsock. Jersey Shore then came up just shy against Sullivan County at home, 2-1, and suffered a 2-0 loss to Mifflinburg.

Those losses showed Luprek and Bulldog fans that Jersey Shore can compete with teams. And last week, that seven-game losing streak finally came to an end with a 3-0 win at Central Mountain to give Jersey Shore a spark.

“Most of our games we are playing a defensive game. We’re playing defense majority so kind of that shift in attack for us, it’s a new concept for us and something new we’re trying to learn how to do and how to do well,” Luprek said. “I’m hoping these next (few) games these girls will have some opportunities to string it together, look for those opportunities, see what it looks like out on the field and build with that.”

One thing Luprek has noticed is that Jersey Shore is buying in to what she’s trying to accomplish, and that’s changing the culture around. It’s tough to change things after a few losing seasons. Winning can be contagious, but so can losing unfortunately.

TIM WEIGHT/For the Express Jersey Shore’s Rees Bierly (16) battles Central Mountain’s Leah Karstetter (3) for possession during a girls soccer game earlier this season.

“I think there’s definitely more of a positive mentality shift. I mean even in the offseason you see these girls looking for opportunities for growth, looking for opportunities to be better as individuals and also as a team,” Luprek said. “A little bit more of that unity in their will, ant and drive.”

The Bulldogs haven’t seen the playoffs since the mid-2000s, but Luprek is hoping that in the near future, that changes for Jersey Shore.

“These girls are a really good group of girls this year. I’m looking forward to growing the program with them and try to build it up,” Luprek said.