PENACOOK — Last year, after getting off to a 5-2 start, the Merrimack Valley girls’ lacrosse team dropped four of its last seven games and slid down to the No. 8 seed in Division II.

Currently 5-1 after a 14-3 win over Kingswood on Monday, head coach Kylee Yam thinks her team is more than capable of sustaining its early-season success into the second half of the schedule this time around.

Having a roster full of returning players, particularly a seven-player junior class, has helped guide the way.

“We have a lot of experienced girls,” said Yam following the Kingswood win. “We have a lot more girls that play outside, too. They play club, and they’ve been on this team for three years. We have a really strong junior class. They know the plays we’ve been working on for three years. They know our team defense, so that kind of helps to tie us all together.

“And then we have some good new talent too. Lilly Jones is a standout freshman for us, so that’s really been the big difference, having all the experience across all the positions.”

On Monday, it was sophomore Abby Thompson who led the Pride with four goals. Sophomore Ella Frink added three, and juniors Kaiya Mercier and Alyssa Brodeur each found the back of the cage twice. MV fell behind 2-0 within the first three minutes of action but outscored the Knights (1-5) by a 14-1 margin the rest of the way.

The Pride didn’t have any games or practices last week during spring break, so that’s why, Yam posited, her group got off to a slower start.

“We pulled it together, so I thought it was OK,” she said. “I thought it was a little inconsistent, but it was OK.”

Yam pointed to MV’s 11-7 win over Hollis-Brookline on April 17 as proof the Pride have taken a step forward from last year.

“The girls really carried out all the plans we had set in practice, which was great, and we had had a talk about being more disciplined as a team, doing the little things,” she said. “I was really impressed because they followed through on all of those things.

“And it’s not just lacrosse-related. It’s getting to school on time, getting good grades and supporting your teammates, things like that. That’s really been the biggest thing that’s feeding them.”

Then against Kingswood, MV revived itself after a sluggish start, built up a big lead and played keep-away for most of the second half.

Yam said there’s still more work to do, but her group’s focus remains on continuing to grow as they hit the midway point of the season.

“We’re trying to really clean up, preventing the little mistakes,” Yam said. “In our stall play, making sure we’re taking care of the ball and not throwing it away. On defense, not doing silly checks. We don’t need to do that.

“So just really cleaning things up, tightening up the plays, running through all that stuff. Really working on our game because we gotta get ready for Hanover.”