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Steamboat Springs — As each minute passed after Friday's 16-11 loss to Lewis-Palmer in the first round of the state lacrosse playoffs, it just didn't get any easier for Steamboat coach Bob Hiester to leave the locker room.

The veteran coach, who now has helped start lacrosse programs that eventually reached the playoffs at three schools, couldn't help but think what might have been.

"There's no question about it. It's going to be a little bit before we put this season to rest," Hiester said Friday at Steamboat Springs High School. "You look in the mirror and say 'would of, could of, should of.' But it was a great season. But when I look ahead, we're only losing a couple key players, and we've got the majority of our good players back."

Sure, Hiester felt for Steamboat's five seniors on a day when the team played with - and nearly beat - a team from the Front Range. But looking ahead, Hiester admitted he couldn't be more excited.

With its roster intact, Steamboat returns a slew of experience at every position. Add in that the team knows it can play with upper-level teams from the Denver area, and the future looks bright.

"No, I wasn't surprised how good they were," Lewis-Palmer coach Sean Denmeade said. "I knew coming in we'd be playing a good team. We weren't surprised. We saw good players and a good team."

The challenge now is trying to get some games against teams from the Front Range on next season's schedule. Steamboat cruised through the Mountain Conference this season, with the Sailors' only tight game against Summit in March.

Although tougher competition would immediately help Steamboat show how good it is on a state level, Hiester said it also would allow the Mountain Conference as a whole to improve and show it can compete.

"What would help us the most is if we could play Front Range teams during the season," Hiester said. "I'm hoping next year our schedule will work out like that. It's huge. With the exception of the Summit game - it was the only one we had to play hard for four quarters - all the past games were out of reach in the first half. We need to play teams that are going to stretch us."

Good news might be on the way, however.

If Telluride puts together a team - there are rumors the school will - the double-round-robin format that the Mountain Conference used this year would be revised. Conference opponents would play one another only once, leaving several games open for nonconference scheduling.

That means Steamboat could have a few games to schedule against elite competition from the Denver area.

With the way the Sailors progressed this year, a playoff win might be the biggest - and most realistic - goal next year.

"I thought we could get here. It was just a matter of timing and getting the right kids," Hiester said. "But now we have to keep it going. We got good young kids coming out of (Steamboat Youth Lacrosse Director) Neill (Redfern's) program. I thought the kids played a better brand and more sophisticated game this year."