The 2023 Pennsbury Field Hockey team opened their regular season with a battle of the birds. The Falcons tallied a strong win over the Conwell-Egan Catholic Eagles, setting the tone as they head straight into their challenging game schedule. Head Coach, Traci Curtis, and the entire coaching staff (Lori Riley, Lauren Gerth, Michele Siegel) made sure that Pennsbury's preparation was laser focused since they united on August 14th including facing tough competition in both scrimmages leading up to today's victory. We purposefully set them up against high level teams during pre season so they can be forced to dig deep early on, explains Curtis. Our theme this season is RAISE THE BAR and the girls have been applying that mentality along the way and certainly stayed true to the mantra during today's game. Freshman, Ryan Burdette, and Senior, Mia Popovich, connected in the first quarter for the Falcons' first goal. Although Pennsbury had many opportunities, that goal stood alone as the only number on the scoreboard until the third quarter. Conwell's goalie did a great job in the cage denying some shots, but we were not doing a great job of moving the ball around her to finish. After collecting ourselves and talking through some strategies at halftime, we came out in the third quarter with an improved performance, said Curtis. Two minutes into the third, Pennsbury's Popovich sent the ball across the circle for a tip-in goal by Junior, Olivia Coen making the score 2-0. Later in the quarter, Popovich stuck again with a scrappy unassisted goal. The Falcons kept knocking on the Eagle's door with 46 seconds left in the third, Junior, Sam Nesteruk crossed the ball for a beautifully tipped goal by Junior, Ava Jordan. Freshman, Cailyn Reilly added the final goal of the game in the fourth quarter with a strong unassisted penalty corner shot making it a 5-0 game. The coaches were really pleased with the passing game and improvement in possessing the ball and smart decision making, says Curtis with some hesitation - there is still a lot of work to be done. Junior, Angelina Kenney, and Senior Captains, Riley Henderson and Gabby Darling each put in strong performances for the Falcons as well. RAISE THE BAR means we can never be satisfied and we must constantly be expecting more, doing more, and wanting more. We are excited to put in the work as a field hockey family to see what we are capable of achieving. Pennsbury will host Neshaminy on Wednesday for their first league game.