You could call it the continuation of an old era or the beginning of a new era, but either way, the Cranston East girls’ soccer team is turning the page on a lean couple of years in Division II.

Interscholastic League realignment has dropped the ’Bolts down to Division III-A – a place where they’ll likely be more competitive – and Scott Maynard has taken over the head coaching position from Lauren Tomasso, who stepped down after last season.

Maynard is no stranger to the program, and the program is no stranger to Division III. He was the head coach from 1993 to 2008, and the ’Bolts spent a lot of that time in D-III. They were there for the entire 2000’s before moving to D-II in 2012.

Maynard, who initially left East to coach the Narragansett Middle School boys’ soccer team that his son played on, took a year off last season. He missed coaching, and with the job opening up at East, he stepped back in.

“Last year was the first year that I hadn’t coached since 1990,” Maynard said. “I just felt like I was on the wrong side of the sidelines. When the opportunity arose, I went for it. Here I am.”

He’ll re-take a program that won just two games the past two years, yet had considerable success the two seasons prior to that in D-III with double-digit wins each season.

Now as a member of the nine-team III-A, East will share a division with Classical, Johnston and Narragansett – all of which moved down as well – and Middletown, North Providence, Shea, Tolman and West Warwick.

Maynard was familiar with East’s team prior to taking over, as he usually attends a few games each season as a fan. He also is an assistant coach for the girls’ lacrosse team, and a few of the players are on both the soccer and lacrosse teams.

And so far, all is going well. Thirty-six girls are out of the team, and nobody will be cut. They’ll be split between the varsity and JV teams, which is still a work in progress.

“Playing time will be determined by quality of play and effort and hard work,” Maynard said. “We’ll wait and see how it’s shaping up. We still haven’t even picked a team.”

East has a number of players back from last year, but also quite a few new faces, including some freshmen. Three-year starter in goal Olivia Tagliaferri has graduated, as have solid contributors Emely Anico, Jennifer Mejia, Carla Simas and Layken Simas.

The team’s top returners are seniors Sam Canales, Sara Olson and Ellen Macaruso, who are all serving as captains.

While all three of them have played different positions during their tenure with the ’Bolts, Maynard isn’t quite sure where he’ll use them just yet. East had a scrimmage scheduled for Tuesday against Chariho, and that figures to go a long way to determining where those three – and the rest of the team – will play.

“We’re really trying to find the best fit so everyone can get as much playing time as possible and improve,” Maynard said.

Senior Alex Bowden and junior Alexis Alves will likely also be significant pieces of the puzzle, while junior Stephanie Groccia is the new goalkeeper, taking over for Tagliaferri.

“She’s been our strongest candidate so far,” Maynard said.

The rest of the roster includes senior Salma Flores, juniors Noelle Bisignano, Bryanna Cardona, Lindsey Doster, Kerrin Field, Carissa Iacobucci, Marissa Nelson, Alexia Peloquin, Talia Santopadre, Alicia Tagliaferri and Cheyenne Tillison, sophomores Kelly Castanos, Caitlin Ciampanelli, Nicole DeAngelis and Aricelis O’Brien and freshmen Brenna Rojek, Kara McKeon and Anna Botts.

“I’m cautiously optimistic here,” Maynard said. “The girls have been getting along really well and the camaraderie seems to be really good.”

East has another scrimmage on Thursday and will play in the Injury Fund against Burrillville and Moses Brown at Cranston Stadium Saturday at 9 a.m.

It will open the season next Wednesday at 6 p.m. on the road against Classical at the Al Morro Complex. The following day, it will have its first home regular season game against Shea at 4 p.m.

“Hopefully the level of play this year will be a little bit more even,” Maynard said. “I know last year there were a lot of games that the girls weren’t really in.”

Back with their former coach and safely back in their longtime division, East will see what it can do. With many unfamiliar opponents, it’s hard to know exactly what that is, but the ’Bolts are excited to get 2014 started.

“I’d love it if we could go better than .500 and get a playoff berth, but until we start playing some of these teams, the girls can’t even determine whether we match-up okay with them,” Maynard said. “I’ll take it one game at a time, really. It’s going to be a game by game basis.”