Preparing to play against Neshaminy at their home field requires a special process for the Falcons. With two Pennsbury coaches who are Neshaminy field hockey alums, one coach who is a Pennsbury alum, and a whole rivalry history between the programs, it’s not only the players who have to do that pre-game mindset work. The mental side of this contest for the Falcons is where the focus falls each year. There is something about traveling to Neshaminy that catapults our team into an intense inner struggle that needs to be worked through at game time. Today they started exactly how coach, Traci Curtis, could have predicted. The Falcons came out flat, on their heels, and intimidated from the first whistle. Despite taking Neshaminy to overtime in their first meeting, Pennsbury continues to battle with confidence issues when stepping onto the Skins’ grass. Neshaminy took advantage of that in the first two minutes of the game when they earned a corner and then scored during a scuffle in front of the goal at the 13:45 mark. The sound of the starting whistle barely out of the air and the score was 1-0. It was one of those goals that happens in slow motion, nothing fancy or even pretty, but still a goal as it rolled over the white line. And that goal was the only one scored in the entire game. When the first quarter ended the Pennsbury players heard an earful from Curtis. Curtis is not sure what part exactly stuck or helped to flip a switch in their brains, but the Falcons came out in the second, third, and fourth quarters and played absolute amazing hockey. They dominated much of the possession throughout a good portion of the remainder of the game, but just couldn’t tie it up with corner opportunities, break aways, and great passing and shooting with one shot that actually bounced off of the post. Neshaminy’s goalie had some incredible saves that kept her team on top and forced PHS to work harder to figure out how to get one by her. They never did. Pennsbury made some tactical changes, line up changes, and executed corners well, but they just could not even up the score. Once again, the hard fought game resulted in a loss, but the Falcons coaches felt like it was a win in so many ways. Having a three game week, battling some injuries, and the intensity of online learning certainly are factors, but the season theme is #NOEXCUSES so there is no room to allow anything to get in the way of game time. The coaching staff is proud of how the girls found a way to get over their mental block surrounding this particular battle and proved to themselves how strong they are together. After the early goal our team could have fallen apart, given up, or acted like they weren’t worthy of competing, but that is not what happened and that is what we love to see in them. We do not rely on one person to take care of anything for us - the workload is shared across the board and everyone stepped up as a solid unit to give the performance they gave today. Some highlights include ball control and distribution in the middle from Sophia Hitchingham and Olivia Graebner, forward line attacking by Jaclyn Gorgo, Kayli Wililams, and Maddy Spratt. In addition, another stellar performance by Marissa MacAinsh helped in the midfield, and incredibly strong, smart defensive play from Sophia Curtis, Hannah Aker, Reilly Monach, and goalie, Jordan Vradenburgh, kept the Skins scoreless for 58 minutes. Pennsbury will continue their travel schedule against Council Rock South on Monday.