This was the year that Catasauqua field hockey head coach Emily Marley has been anticipating.

She has endured the growing pains of young clubs through the first two years of her tenure and has watched her teams fight through adversity despite a pair of winless seasons.

“Three years ago, we made a commitment to grow as a program and get better every year,” Marley said.

Things went well early on as the team had a consistent number of players.

“The girls really have wanted to get better, and they all have been very excited all summer for the season,” Marley said. “They believe they could make a major improvement this year.”

Marley welcomed 25 candidates into camp, and had seven seniors in the mix. The girls finished 1-10 on the season with their lone win coming against Dieruff 6-0.

But the team played several teams tough, with close losses like 2-0 to Saucon Valley, 3-1 to Palisades, 3-2 to Salisbury, 3-0 to Southern Lehigh, 4-0 to Northwestern and 1-0 to Pen Argyl. Northwestern, Saucon and Southern Lehigh all qualified for the Colonial League playoffs.

Alexis Rushatz entered the season as the team’s leading scorer and was a staple in the midfield with fellow senior Annabelle Cline.

“Alexis has been really impressive,” said Marley of the multisport athlete. “Annabelle is a phenomenal player who [helped] us.”

Other seniors who played major roles were midfielders Destany Montanez and Janessa Ortiz, forwards Emily Rivera and Alex Treber and defender Sabrina Safadi.

Marley turned to freshman Sophia Becker in the nets.

“She is a catcher on the softball team and has really good hands. I believe she is a natural at the position,” Marley said.

In the end Marley hoped the girls would just be able to take the field

“We’re really anxious to see what we can do. We really want to play.”