Jamie McGroarty has built the Eastern girls' soccer program into a perennial power that expects to compete favorably against a rugged schedule each year.

Last season, the Vikings needed to replace several graduated players, and they just missed qualifying for the Group 4 state tournament and finished 7-8-4.

The players and McGroarty agreed that there was an empty feeling while uniforms were being collected and the postseason was starting. However, this year, there won't be that feeling.

Despite its record last year, Eastern lost six one-goal games and another in the Coaches Tournament on penalty kicks. So even in a so-called down year, the Vikings didn't willingly give in.

Now those close games are going the Vikings' way.

The Vikings took an 8-2 record into Tuesday's game with Shawnee, the fourth in five days for Eastern.

Eastern has a nice mix of youth and experience, and is led by one of South Jersey's top players, senior midfielder Kerri Aiken.

A La Salle recruit, Aiken might be the best player in the air in South Jersey. And she's not too bad on the ground, either.

"She is a dominant player," Cherry Hill West coach Bridget Garrity Bantle said after the Lions fell to Eastern, 3-0, on Monday. "I thought she won every ball against us."

Aiken said that Eastern is back to its old mind-set of believing it can be competitive with any team on its ambitious schedule.

"I think we have really good chemistry this year, and we feel we can fight for the conference title," she said.

Left unsaid is that Lenape stands in the way. Lenape is the two-time defending state Group 4 champion and also won the Olympic Conference American Division and South Jersey Coaches Tournament. Those are three sets of hardware that Eastern is looking to earn.

And to boot, Eastern opened its season with a 3-0 loss to Lenape.

"I think Lenape is very talented, but it wasn't a good game for us," Aiken said. "I think we have improved since then."

The goal scoring woes of last season have been eased by the addition of freshman Madison Tiernan, who entered Tuesday with nine goals, and senior Kelsey Long, a James Madison recruit, who has eight goals.

Senior Adrianna Konstantinides has been the guiding force on defense, and senior Deana Wood has been a stabilizing force in goal.

McGroarty says that a major boost has come from senior Kaelyn Pizarro and sophomore Serena Hitchins in the midfield.

"Those two run all day and both do a great job defensively and offensively," McGroarty said.

Eastern, ranked No. 6 in South Jersey by The Inquirer, also lost a 1-0 overtime decision on Friday to No. 5 Clearview. In that game, the Vikings hit the post twice in overtime.

Teams can learn from losses. But Eastern is just trying to get through this brutal stretch of so many games with so little rest.

Still, last year at this time, the Vikings were fighting for their playoff lives, needing to win one of three games by the cutoff but losing all three.

McGroarty, who guided Eastern to consecutive state titles in 2005 and 2006 and recently earned his 250th career victory, likes the direction this team is going.

He acknowledges that there is plenty of room for improvement.

Still, Eastern is back in its accustomed spot, preparing for a postseason run and probably realizing deep down that no team will be doing cartwheels if it draws the Vikings in November.

Contact staff writer Marc Narducci at 856-779-3225 or mnarducci@phillynews.com.