The Salisbury girls' soccer team may have not played its best game Mondays in a 3-1 victory over Pleasant Valley, but the stretch the Lady Falcons are in the middle of a quite impressive stretch.

Following a 2-2 tie against Saucon Valley, which currently is 8-0-1 in the Colonial League, the Lady Falcons reeled off three straight nonleague victories against Wilkes-Barre Meyers (9-0), Fleetwood (2-1) and Pleasant Valley.

A constant threat for the Lady Falcons has been senior forward Mackenzie Groff, currently the PIAA's leading goal scorer with 35. Groff scored all three, including two in a 3:27 span in the first half, to lift the Lady Falcons (9-4-1 overall; 6-1-1 in Colonial League) to their third straight victory.

"That's a great run that we've just had," head coach Rick Babyak said. "They did what they needed to do, and had a great run here. It really helps with district points, and what they did in these last three games."

"We haven't won a nonleague game before this past week," Groff said. "So winning three in a row is pretty awesome."

It says a lot about a team when it wins late-season games without playing its best.

"We've been coming out with some good victories, and not playing our best" Groff said. "It's really nice to see that we can still win, and not play the way we're capable of playing."

"We didn't play our best game, but we still won," Babyak said. "That's a good sign, that you're not at your top and you can still win a game. The good teams, like Northwestern, Saucon and Southern Lehigh, they can turn it on when they want to turn it on. That's what I'm trying to get them to understand."

Groff entered the Lady Falcons' stretch of three nonleague contests with 25 goals. But a remarkable stretch that included six scores in the team's 9-0 victory over Meyers has her on the cusp of breaking the school's career goals mark and leading the entire state. Tabitha Penuel holds the school record with 63 career goals, and Groff is six away from tying that mark.

What's more impressive is that Groff didn't even play as a freshman.

"Pleasant Valley is a decent team," Babyak said. "They've had some decent wins, and then she comes out and scores three goals against a decent EPC team. That just shows she is a quality player. She scored against Fleetwood yesterday, and Fleetwood was a state-ranked team."

"I wouldn't be able to do it without my teammates," Groff said. "They help me a lot. It's really nice to know that I can score in out-of-league games, and not just the games we should win. Even in the big games, it's nice to know I can still put a few away."

Groff broke a scoreless tie midway through the opening half that gave the Lady Falcons a 1-0 advantage. Following a misplayed ball from Pleasant Valley's goalkeeper, Groff collected the loose ball and guided it into the back of the net.

Moments later, Caylin Meikrantz's through ball found Groff in the center of the field. Groff then placed a perfect ball into the left side of the goal for a 2-0 lead with 17:47 remaining until halftime.

"I don't think about scoring," Groff said. "I think about winning. The goals come along with winning so that's great."

Groff's scoring spree resurfaced again quickly after the halftime whistle blew. Another perfectly timed pass winded up on Groff's foot, who touched it into the right corner of the net for a three-goal advantage.

Pleasant Valley's Morgan Covart added a goal nearly six minutes later, but the Bears' attack on offense failed to produce any more goals the rest of the way.

The Lady Falcons started a string of four Colonial League games to end the season on Tuesday night against Palmerton. Results from that game were not available at time of press.

Up next is a home game against Moravian Academy on Thursday. Game time is 7 p.m.