When freshman Rylee Donaldson was given the opportunity, she took advantage of it.

In the center midfielder’s first varsity game of her career, Donaldson exploded with four goals in the Lady Falcons’ 6-1 victory over Notre Dame (East Stroudsburg) on Friday. She was one of three goal-scorers, along with Cait Hoenig and Erica Holben, to register tallies in Salisbury’s season-opener.

“It’s great to be able to have the opportunity to play with such a good team,” Donaldson said. “It’s great that the coaches gave me the opportunity to play. I’m just glad I was able to help the team get a win.”

While she isn’t much for celebrating her own success, it’s not often a freshman, or any player, has the ability to score four goals in one contest.

Donaldson was just glad that she had a helping hand in starting the Lady Falcons off on the right foot.

“I think we connected really well as a team,” Donaldson said. “It’s nice to have players on the field who are really good at sharing the ball. We were really good developing from the defense and working into our offense, generating shots, and putting them into the back of the net.”

Notre Dame held its own early on, trailing just 2-1 at the break, but momentum quickly shifted over to Salisbury with four goals in the final 40 minutes.

Sarah Reilly and Caylin Meikrantz, who is nearing the school record for career assists, added assists in the game.

While the Lady Falcons cruised in their first game of 2015, the next day wasn’t as favorable against Central Catholic. The Lady Vikings, after taking a 1-0 advantage into halftime, struck twice early in the second half to build a three-goal lead. Salisbury wasn’t able to break through on any of its five shots on goal, resulting in the 3-0 defeat.

“Central is a really good team,” Donaldson said. “I think we got down a little bit in the first half, but in the second half we pretty much dominated the game. We were able to work really well together again.”

Jordan Kamp had four saves in goal against Central Catholic and nine more against Notre Dame.

The upcoming week figures to be a good test for Salisbury with a number of pivotal league match-ups. First, the Lady Falcons host a Palisades team Tuesday, which was played after Press deadline. That will be followed by a trip to Notre Dame (Green Pond) on Thursday at 4 p.m. The Lady Crusaders were the first team out of the league playoffs last year.

“I hear from past games against [Palisades] that they were able to win a few and we were able to win a few,” Donaldson said. “We’re just going to go out [Tuesday] and have a positive outlook. Hopefully it will go our way.”