As the Ottawa Fury NASL team trucks toward the end of the spring season, the club's W-League team has quietly begun training for its own 2014 campaign.

The team has announced the first 10 women signed to play for the Fury this year, with more announcements expected over the next week.

But the signings that have been made official are significant ones, as the perennial contender women's team looks to bounce back from last year when they failed to make the final four.

Head coach Dom Oliveri is once again at the helm and wants to turn this team back into a championship contender after the Fury won the crown in 2012. He's off to a pretty good start, bringing in rising star Kadeisha Buchanan to anchor the team's backfield with returning Fury defender Shelina Zadorsky. Buchanan scored the lone goal for Canada in a 1-1 draw with the Americans in front of 28,000 people who turned out for the friendly in Winnipeg last week.

Buchanan has already been mentioned by some in the same breath as superstar Christine Sinclair, all at the age of 18.

In an interview with the Sun earlier this week, Team Canada veteran Rhian Wilkinson -- who also played a number of seasons with Fury FC a decade go -- couldn't say enough about what Ottawa was getting in Buchanan, calling her a "huge talent" and an even better person.

"It is a privilege to play with Kadeisha," said Wilkinson. "She's the life of the (Canadian) team, she has no fear and she's a wonderful young woman."

High praise coming from a player who has been capped 152 times for Canada, third on the current Team Canada women's roster behind only Sinclair (209) and Diana Matheson (164).

Buchanan will be an important piece of the puzzle this season, but not the only one. The team has also brought back Norwegian Lisa-Marie Woods, an experienced midfielder starting her fourth go-around with the Fury. She was named team MVP in 2012 in helping Ottawa capture the league championship. Also returning to Ottawa are American midfielders Lydia Hastings and Teresa Rynier.

In addition to bringing back Zadorsky -- who played the fifth-most minutes for Ottawa last season -- the Fury also brought in fellow Canadian defender Bryanna McCarthy and forward Christabel Oduro.

A strong team on paper, to be sure, but there are also many new faces and Oliveri will have plenty of work to do in helping them develop chemistry ahead of the season opener next Saturday in Ottawa against the Quebec Dynamo.

"Doing well has it perks, but the (downside) is your players move on and they do better things and that's OK with us," Oliveri told the Sun recently.

He's not shy about saying the club expects to be back in the thick of it come the end of the regular season, with anything other than a semi-final appearance likely considered a disappointment.

"Last year was a rebuilding for us after winning the championship (in 2012)," Oliveri said. "For us, any time we don't win the division and go to the final four is a rebuilding year. We have high expectations in the women's program and a good reputation and we try to keep it up every year if we can."

To help meet those expectations, Oliveri has brought in the club's first female assistant coach in Robin Rushton, who is also Oliveri's assistant with the Algonquin College women's team and has played for Canada at every level from U16 to U20 while also serving as captain of her West Virginia University team.

Oliveri acknowledged it was important to bring a woman onto the coaching staff, but not for optics.

"It makes sense only if the coach can actually deliver and coach and Robin can do that," he said. "She's played for Canada at every level. She has a great background and she'll be a role model for the players."

With the W-League season about to begin, Oliveri hopes his team can feed off the soccer excitement that has arrived in the capital thanks to the NASL Fury squad.

"I really hope so because we have such a great product to offer," he said. "Especially for young female players that are in the area, they're going to come out and watch players that they can see on TV, here in Ottawa.

"It's going to be a heck of a team this year and we're pretty excited."

The Fury W-League team will begin the 2014 season at Carleton University with matches May 24 against Quebec Dynamo and May 31 against K-W United. The games will be part of a double-header and will precede matches by the men's team. The women will return to their regular home pitch at the 2,000-seat Algonquin College Soccer Complex June 28 following six road games.

Fury FC W-League roster (players announced as of May 15)

D: Shelina Zadorsky, Kadeisha Buchanan

M: Lisa-Marie Woods, Teresa Rynier, Lydia Hastings, Laura Stockdale

F: Christabel Oduro, Kristy Moore, Ashley Lawrence, Bryanna McCarthy

chris.hofley@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @chrishofley