The Tracy and West High varsity soccer teams were still taking shape through the second week of practice but should have their final rosters sorted out by Tuesday’s crosstown matchup at Steve Lopez Stadium.

That game, which starts at 5:30 p.m. for the freshman/sophomore teams and 7 p.m. for the varsity, is the first of the season for West, while Tracy will be coming off a weekend of tournament play in Marin County.

The rivalry is always intense, but it’s a friendly competition among players, who all know each other.

“It’s a unique rivalry, because they all play on competitive teams together,” Tracy coach Phil Kalis said.

West won the match last year 1-0 in an otherwise even game that was tipped in West’s favor when Miguel Flores, one of the Wolf Pack’s returning seniors this year, saw a rare opportunity to take an open shot.

The game started a strong pre-league season, launching the Wolf Pack to third place in the Tri-City Athletic League with a 4-2-4 league record and a 9-3-5 overall mark.

West coach Joe Perry said that he still must determine how many players are eligible for this year’s team, but among the 22 players he expects to make the roster, he includes eight seniors and two juniors from last year’s team, plus eight more up from last year’s junior varsity team.

“I expect a lot from this team this year,” said senior Omar Valverde, who’s preparing for his third campaign on the varsity team.

He added that players communicate well and keep the ball moving: “It will be a different team than last year. The passing is going to be stronger, and our forwards will score a lot of goals.”

The Bulldogs had tough competition in their 2008 pre-league season, following which they rallied to go 10-0 in the San Joaquin Athletic Association (13-4-2 overall) and take the league championship.

In a first-round playoff match, Tracy and Johansen High of Modesto battled to a 2-2 tie through overtime. After two rounds of penalty kicks, Johansen was on top, 9-8.

Tracy’s team is now heavy on seniors determined to surpass last year’s accomplishments.

“This year, since we have four of us who have played (varsity) since sophomore year, hopefully we can pump up the team and keep going strong,” senior Bryan Bourassa said. “We’re not the fastest team this year, but we’ve got more skills than we ever did.”

Senior Jake Rivera added that most teammates have been together since their youth soccer days and also put together a winning season in their freshman year.

Other third-year varsity players are Max Garrigan and Kevin Clement.

“We’ll be a deep squad again just like last year,” Kalis said. “We’ll be able to sub down to the last person on the team and not drop off. That wears down the other teams.”

West and Tracy had a couple of preseason scrimmages against each other scheduled, but California Interscholastic Federation rules on when scrimmages could be held forced them to be canceled. Instead, the teams played scrimmages against their own alumni.

West brought back players from its 2006 team Wednesday night, a squad that went to the Sac-Joaquin Section championship game and played Jesuit High of Carmichael to a 0-0 tie before Jesuit won 4-2 on a penalty kick tiebreaker.

On Wednesday, the alumni took a 1-0 lead into the half. The varsity team scored two at the start of the second half and the alumni scored another to tie it up. Each team scored last-minute goals to make it a 3-3 tie. After two penalty-kick rounds, the alumni had outshot the varsity 4-3.

Tuesday’s matchup against Tracy will be the first of six pre-league games over the next two weeks for West, mostly on the road, with another home game Sept. 9 against Lodi. West also hosts Oakdale on Sept. 15 before league play begins at Steve Lopez Stadium against Stagg on Sept. 24.

Tracy’s pre-league schedule includes this weekend’s trip to the Bay City Invitational at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley. The Bulldogs also go on the road Thursday to play Sierra High in Manteca, and they play again at the West High soccer field on Sept. 16 and 21, first against Atwater and then against St. Mary’s. League play begins for Tracy on Sept. 30 at Franklin High.

As of Friday afternoon the Bulldogs were 1-1 in the Bay City tournament. They won their first game 3-0 against Petaluma High. Orlando Michel scored for Tracy in the first half, and Francisco Colmanares and Kyle Devlin scored in the second half. Max Garrigan and Devlin provided assists.

The Bulldogs then lost 1-2 to Maria Carillo High of Santa Rosa. Tracy was ahead at the half on a goal from Jake Rivera on an assist from Garrigan, and Carillo scored two in the second half for the win.

• Contact Bob Brownne at 830-4227 or brownne@tracypress.com.