The lights. The turf. The stadium. The announcer. The National Anthem paired with the setting sun. The slight chill in the air. It all sets the scene for a late September night game that seems to create a different kind of enthusiasm for players, coaches, and fans as well. The long bus ride was somewhat calm as the Falcons pre game mental prep simmered along the highway toward Souderton HS. You could feel the vibe of excited anticipation just under the surface and I could tell the girls were ready to play. Coming off of a frustrating performance against Pennridge on Monday and a "gut check" chalk talk at Tuesday's practice, my assistant coach, Britt Sheenan, and I were hoping tonight's challenge would bring out the best in our team. The girls did not disappoint. In this type of match up we cannot focus on the final score. Despite losing 6-0, we won in so many ways out there. Souderton came out and scored early, making a statement on their home turf, but we were so proud of how our team responded and did not let it phase them. With a complete unified effort, our Falcons held them to 2 goals in the first quarter, playing with so much energy and heart. Souderton is a really fast, skilled, solid team with a huge talent and size advantage, but our girls just continued to work on playing their game and finding ways to succeed. The second quarter was a bit more messy for us as they increased the lead to 5-0 by the half with reverse stick shots, rebounds off of pads, and lifted goals. Halftime gave us the opportunity to analyze what was happening and adjust. With the score where it was, we decided to change things up and give everyone a chance to get out there and fight the good fight. Fresh legs and a different perspective always help. Tonight was a true full team effort from end to end as everyone got playing time. The second half was a Pennsbury victory as far as we were concerned. Souderton scored one more goal with seven minutes left in the third quarter and then never scored again. Our goalie, Jordan Vradenburgh came up HUGE and just kept getting better and better as the game went on. She tallied 32 saves and was tested for 60 minutes with reverse chips, rebounds, laser straight corner shots, and many circle scrambles. We are extremely proud of how she stood strong in that cage and rose to the occasion. She was protected well by her extremely strong backfield teammate, Gabby Darling, who notched 2 defensive saves to make it a complete 34 stops on their opponent's 40 shots on goal. They had 17 penalty corners against us and our defense stopped them almost every time. Although Pennsbury did not generate too much offense, we had 3 penalty corner opportunities and Meg McClure helped us to penetrate a couple of times and get shots off. One of the best moments was in the final seconds of the game as McClure carried the ball almost a field length, dodging, fighting, and beating players the whole way and earning a penalty corner as the time ran out. Unfortunately, the corner didn't get played out because scoring wouldn't change the winner of the game, but in our hearts we understood what she accomplished for us as a whole. She never backed down for a second and sent a strong message to her teammates that she believes we CAN. Every loss provides an opportunity to learn and tonight we learned a ton about who we are as a family. Games like this are the ultimate classroom and force you to face your weaknesses and learn how to push yourself beyond self-perceived limits. We will continue to focus on winning many small moments and holding onto those as our measure of progress and success. One day we will put them all together and win a BIG moment. The long bus ride home was not quite as calm and we are happy about that. Finding joy through these tough sports experiences is a remarkable feat in itself. Thank you to these additional players for stand out efforts - Liv Graebner, Molly Murray, and Kaylin Flannery. Pennsbury will host CB East on Friday.