The recipe for a letdown was there.

On a field that Salisbury hasn’t won on in quite some time, the Falcons watched their early one-goal lead disappear when Moravian Academy scored with just over five minutes to play. Not only did that force overtime, but the momentum had suddenly swung to the Lions’ side.

But even with all of that stacked against them, including a missed penalty kick late in the first overtime session, Salisbury found a way to survive. The Falcons had another penalty kick opportunity in the second overtime, and Rylee Donaldson’s strike in the back of the net sent the Falcons (10-6 overall, 7-3 in Colonial League) to a thrilling 2-1 victory over Moravian (5-7, 4-6) on Thursday evening.

“You have to try your best not to be nervous,” said Donaldson, a freshman. “You have to go up there and just keep your composure. That’s what I kind of did. My coach always says take three deep breaths and that’s what I did.”

The offense struck early, not even two minutes into play, when Holly Bruns set up Caylin Meikrantz for an early 1-0 advantage.

That goal would hold until late in the second half despite plenty of opportunities from both sides, but more notably the Lions’ attacking forwards over the final 40 minutes of play. Salisbury goalie Jordan Kamp, who recorded seven saves, led the Falcons’ defense that kept the Lions scoreless for nearly 75 minutes.

“Our defense played awesome,” said Kamp, a junior who is committed to St. John’s University. “I’ve never seen us step up so much in a tough game. We haven’t won on this field in almost 10 years so this was a huge win, especially for the defense because we’re coming back from last year with all of our injuries and everyone is still healthy.”

The Lions finally broke through when Sarah Burcaw floated a shot over Kamp from the left side to even the game at a goal apiece with 5:13 to play.

“When that goal happened, all that was running through my mind was, ‘Oh my gosh, is this a repeat of two years ago when we went into overtime with them and ended up losing to them on a PK ironically enough?’” Kamp said. “That’s what was going through my head, but I was like we can’t let that happen. We need to keep working.”

And the Falcons certainly kept working and fighting. Even after Meikrantz’ missed penalty kick in the first overtime session, the Falcons quickly showed they were the more hungry team.

“We know in times like that all we have to do is stick together and keep our spirits high,” Donaldson said. “We have to know that we can do it. We can work as a team, and we can get the win.”

“We had some adversity and they didn’t let up,” head coach Rick Babyak said. “They kept their heads up and believed in themselves.”

Along with Kamp in net, the Falcons’ back line of Sarah Galantini, Sophie Niesenbaum, Jess Safi and Marisol Rosario, among others, played a huge role in one of the Falcons’ better defensive performances of the season.

“Because of the pressure and style of play they had, the defense had to be immaculate today,” Babyak said, “and for the most part they were. They had to be totally focused. There was no room for error today because of how stretched out the game was and the long ball they kept playing.”

The win couldn’t have came at a better time for a Salisbury team fighting for one of the final league playoff spots. The Falcons’ win over Moravian kept that No. 4 seed within reach, and despite Palisades defeating Northwestern later that day, there is still hope with two games to go. The Falcons sit a game behind No. 3 seed Northwestern (8-2) and No. 4 Palisades (8-2), but hold the tiebreaker with Palisades after beating the Pirates earlier in the year.

“The girls know it and we know it,” Babyak said. “It’s very big towards that, but you know what it’s even bigger for the girls to believe in themselves. They’ve been working hard for so long for this, and to have the confidence to keep working even after we missed a PK is big.”