After losing seven defensive starters off of last year’s defense, those two words are synonymous with the University of Maine’s football team at the start of the 2009 college football season, especially after a lackluster season opener 34-27 win in overtime over Division II St. Cloud State.

“You move on,” said UMaine coach Jack Cosgrove. “You just have to go to the next season, and we’ve replaced them with seven new guys. You’re going to see this group of guys improve just like those guys did. There was a day when those guys were sophomores, too.”

Despite an underwhelming performance in last Thursday’s win, the young Black Bears have their sights set on the future as they prepare to open conference play at Northeastern University on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“I’ve been telling the young guys that this is where we take a big jump from week one to week two,” said senior linebacker Mark Masterson, the team’s leading returning tackler. “Everybody’s buying into that and I can already tell that we’re really focused.”

“You got to take it as you’re going to get better every game,” added sophomore tailback Derek Session. “Last year was our first game at Iowa and I felt like that was my worst game of the season. Every game I kept getting better and better after that.”

Northeastern (0-1) comes into the first Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) contest of the year after being thumped 54-0 by Boston College, an FBS squad.

“We felt like they’re going to be a lot like we were,” Cosgrove said. “They’re going to be disappointed in their opening game, and I felt like they might’ve been tentative in a lot of ways like we were.”

In last Thursday’s home opener, St. Cloud State came out from the outset and took control of a tentative UMaine defense, establishing their running game early, which allowed them to have success through the air (222 yards, 1 touchdown).

“We had a lot of mental things going on in the first half,” Session said. “We had a lot of first-year players, and it was their first game. I felt like we did better in the second half because everyone got their jitters out and came out ready to play.”

In the second half, the Black Bears were able to rely on their vaunted rushing attack, which produced 253 yards, despite the absence of All-American fullback Jared Turcotte who was held out of the game due to a groin injury.

The biggest bright spot for UMaine, which dropped from No. 19 to 20 in the national rankings, was the play of the special teams.

Junior wide receiver Desmond Randall, who missed all last season due to an appendectomy, returned a kickoff 80 yards for a score in the first quarter after the Huskies jumped ahead 3-0. Sophomore kicker Jordan Waxman converted all of his kicks as well, including two field goals.

“Special teams are a huge thing in this conference too,” said senior quarterback Mike Brusko. “A lot of times they make the difference between who wins and who loses. We’ve experienced that firsthand.”

In 2006 the Black Bears suffered a crippling 10-9 loss to UMass after they failed to make an extra point in the waning moments of the game. Last year, however, the Minutemen missed a late extra point to allow UMaine to escape with a 21-20 victory.

While the struggles were evident in the season opener, the 1-0 Black Bears came back on three occasions to get a hard-fought win in overtime.

“They played hard and gave us something that we just weren’t ready for and weren’t expecting,” Brusko said. “But we’re better for it to have played in a tough game and respond and persevere.”

Notes: Turcotte (groin injury), Landis Williams (hand injury) and Derek Buttles (suspension) are all expected to be available for Saturday’s game.