It was the final Friday of the regular season and the Pennsbury field hockey seniors felt the sentimental tug at their hearts as they traveled to CR South for what was also their final away game of 2022. It was a crazy week leading up to CR South as the Falcons hosted a home game, traveled to a night game, and had to postpone a game just a day prior. "The end of the regular season seems to move at warp speed and even though we know it's coming, there is always so much emotion attached to the "lasts" with each class of seniors", said Coach Curtis. The girls do a great job of channeling that emotion into coming together to play solid games as one united force. We had a good warm up and came out ready to do the work, Curtis added. South is a strong, skilled, fast team and it was definitely a different experience playing them on their turf compared to our grass. The Hawks struck first in the opening quarter and the score remained 1-0 going into the second. Once again our defense stepped up to the task and made some really great plays to help hold of the Hawks attack. Council Rock added to their lead in the second quarter and Pennsbury continued to search for ways to adjust and make a counterattack. The game was 2-0 at halftime and it was far from over according to the orange and black. Our focus at halftime was not solely on the end result, but on the moment and all of the wonderful opportunities we had in front of us. Being on the losing end of a score is simply a challenge in progress, and it was our goal to face the challenge as a collective unit and just get better. The third quarter ended with Pennsbury down 3-0 after CRS tallied another in the first five minutes. It took until the fourth quarter for the Falcons to answer back and prove that they have staying power and the ability to grow despite the obstacles in their path. Meg McClure, who spent the entire first three quarters fighting through defenders to keep possession, create, and gain yards, finally connected five minutes in on a great shot from right inside the circle making the score 3-1. It was an awesome shot and a great spark that the girls needed to fire them up for the final ten minutes of the game. We made some line up changes and the energy just rippled through everyone. The support our girls give to one another is a great strength and serves us well. The Hawks tried to extinguish the Falcons' spark with another goal with five minutes left, but the Falcons refused to let up, using the "together" mentality to the fullest. McClure connected again with four minutes left and the scoreboard illuminated a 4-2 score. The second goal was a beautiful moment for us all. It started with senior, Siya Patel, and reached senior Jessie Martin. Martin made a smart pass to senior, Rachel Stein, who tapped it to senior, Meg McClure. McClure finished it making it a complete senior progression up the field. The contributions of all of those girls in that play was worth celebrating and celebrate they did. We are so proud of Siya, Rachel, and Jessie for how hard they have worked to get to that moment. It felt so good to see them accomplish that and score one more against such a strong team late in the fourth. The Hawks did squeak in another goal with less than two minutes left in the game, resulting in a 5-2 final. I wish we could have held them to one less, but we did all we could for 60 minutes. Once again despite the numbers on the scoreboard, the story of PHS goalie, Jordan Vradenburgh, tells a better truth about the battle. Vradenburgh was pummeled with a myriad of shots - 30 of them - and had 25 saves. She is so much fun to watch and I honestly believe she thrives when tested to the highest level, Curtis pointed out. Jordan is incredible in the cage and the defensive unit she has helped to create is very special. All of our players were able to see time today, making it a full team effort. As we head into our final three games of the regular season we look forward to watching our field hockey family come together and finish as a better version of ourselves than when we started two months ago. We will be crossing the finish line of our season with service in our hearts as we collect food at our three home games in support of a local food pantry. Pennsbury will honor their seniors on Monday against Bensalem, host CR North on Tuesday, and then close out 2022 at home on Thursday against Central Bucks South.