It has been a difficult start to the season for Salisbury field hockey, but the good news is that the team has continued to develop well and can figure on brighter days ahead this season. On Saturday, the Lady Falcons hosted Northwestern Lehigh and the Lady Tigers were able to walk off the field with a 4-0 win.

Salisbury (1-3 Colonial, 1-4 overall) has had to fill several holes on its offense, leading to somewhat of a learning curve for the players. The defense though has a good compliment of returning players and has been able to keep them in games. At times, the offense has shown some spark, leading Salisbury to a 6-0 win over Catasauqua earlier in the year.

“We graduated five seniors and lost almost all of our forwards, so we have a new dynamic,” said Falcon head coach Jane Brennan. “We also have our co-sponsorship with Central Catholic, so we have a new player starting for us with Chandler Straub. Right now, we’re just trying to work the new dynamic and we just have to put it all together and we will.”

Against Northwestern (2-2, 2-2), the defense held the Tigers’ offense in check for much of the first quarter, apart from Brinley Rex, who picked up a goal with 7:35 left in the quarter.

Northwestern came back to get two goals in the second quarter, including Rex scoring her second goal of the game. The defenses dominated in the third quarter and Northwestern managed to get an early goal in the fourth to cap the scoring.

Part of the learning curve is adapting to know just where your teammates are playing. That difference between the two teams was apparent Saturday with Northwestern having more returning starters and more of a familiarity with each other on the field.

“As our girls start to fit into their roles more and learn the pace of varsity play, we’ll get better at that,” said Brennan. “We are still at the beginning of that process and it’s just a matter of learning to mesh and know where each other are. Some teams don’t have to look up and they can tell where the next player is, and we will get there.”

After the loss to Northwestern, Salisbury had to face a tough Palmerton (3-1, 3-2) team and fell to the Blue Bombers 6-1. Junior Ella DeFazio nailed a penalty shot for Salisbury’s goal. The schedule continues to be difficult when Salisbury travels to Southern Lehigh (4-0, 4-0) for a meeting with the Lady Spartans tomorrow. After that, the team hosts Pen Argyl (0-3, 0-4) Friday with road games at Wilson (0-0, 0-0) and Bangor (1-0, 1-0) next week.

“I like the chemistry that our team has among the players and that gives us a good point to work from,” said Brennan. “Our girls really have an amazing bond and with the defensive unit having played together for a while now, they certainly have that bond that helps to make them solid. Our girls also work hard and they want to get better, so all of the ingredients are there for us.”