As head coach Rick Babyak is in the midst of his third season at the helm of the Salisbury girls soccer team, the Lady Falcons have yet to taste the sweetness of the Colonial League playoff.

0That all changed last week as the regular season came to an end.

Even entering the Lady Falcons' regular season finale against Southern Lehigh, their league position was already determined. Despite a 2-0 loss to Southern Lehigh on Thursday, Salisbury remained the No. 4 seed entering the playoffs.

"We felt that we were close last year," Babyak said. "We felt that we could do a little bit more that we needed to do to get into leagues. They did a nice job to get to that point."

While the final score may have not had an impact on their tournament seeding, the Lady Falcons are still faced with a number of obstacles moving forward from that contest.

Already without two of their starting defenders due to season-ending injuries, the Falcons lost another when junior Sarah Galantini was helped off the field with an ankle injury. That leaves them with just one starting defender from the beginning of the season.

"We're limping into the playoffs," Babyak said. "We had a totally new defense in there because of injuries. It's sad. We lost another one with an ACL [last Tuesday against Northern Lehigh]. Marisol [Rosario] was our fast central defender.

"It saddens me from a personal standpoint, not even the team standpoint, to see them have go through it. It definitely affects the team."

Junior goalkeeper Jordan Kamp was also shaken up as the game ended last Thursday.

"The subs came in, and they did a really nice job," Babyak said. "For how much we were hurting, I give them credit. It was a good Southern Lehigh team."

Sophomore Alex Freeman was the lone defender that finished the Southern Lehigh game that played consistent time throughout the season. Freshman Elena Lagunilla, freshman Maja Sejdic and junior Jess Safi saw valuable time against the Spartans, too, and will be key in patching up that defense in the postseason.

As for the game itself, the Spartans showed why they were one of the four teams in the Colonial League to qualify for leagues. With just 12.6 seconds remaining in the first half, Amanda Mobley set up Kaitlyn O'Brien deep in Salisbury territory, and her goal into the right side of the net broke a scoreless game.

Despite dominating the shots on goal category, the Spartans took that one-goal lead late into the game. It wasn't until O'Brien added her second of the game with 2:33 to play that the Spartans could breathe a bit more easily.

In all, the Spartans took 16 shots on goal compared to Salisbury's two. Kamp's eight saves may have kept the final score even closer.

"She has nothing to be ashamed of today," Babyak said. "She made some brilliant saves today. She punched some out under pressure, getting knocked around and getting hit. With the young defense in there, she had extra work for herself and handled it well."

The Lady Falcons had one of their best opportunities on goal midway through the second half. A cross from Emily Batman was on point in front of the Spartans' goal, but the ball skipped between two Salisbury players, leaving them without a shot on target.

Babyak and the Lady Falcons realize that offensive production won't cut it come playoff time. Getting healthy on the offensive half of the field is essential to that.

"A part of the problem is Mackenzie [Groff] is not healthy yet," Babyak said. "I don't want to make excuses, but she got wrecked in the Palmerton game and hasn't been the same since. We rely on her very heavily for goals. Once Mac is down, we have trouble generating goals."

The Colonial League semifinals were held on Tuesday. Results from the Lady Falcons game against Saucon Valley were not available at time of press. The winner of that game faces the winner of No. 2 Northwestern and No. 3 Southern Lehigh on Thursday.