Liberty opened the field hockey season with a tough test against Nazareth over the weekend, but fell to the Blue Eagles 2-1. Head coach Jill Dorn was happy with what she saw from her group in a difficult EPC opener, which she hopes can pay dividends moving forward.

“We were extremely proud of the way we opened on Friday,” said Dorn. “The team was able to see the gains of their hard work through a rigorous conditioning week. We got to see people in multiple positions and also saw some players step into new roles as decision makers on the field. Overall, we were pleased, as was the team, with the way started their season.”

Ellis Corr scored the second half goal for Liberty and Tula Sobrinski earned the assist. Dorn knows her group will take away lessons from the season opening loss, as they have games against Easton and East Stroudsburg South this week.

“The girls realized and bought into the importance of their conditioning but this will still be an improvement and area of focus all season,” she said. “As a collective, the team also views communication as one of the more vital areas in which they can improve. Looking to maximize our effort using Easton to catapult us into the game speed we will need to be consistent.”

Freedom is off to a 1-1 start on the year, as they lost to Parkland 7-0 in their opener, but then bounced back with a 4-0 win over Salisbury on Saturday.

The Pates have Whitehall and Pocono Mountain East on tap this week.

Bethlehem Catholic didn’t get off on the right foot, suffering a 9-0 defeat to Northampton last week. It doesn’t get any easier this week, as they have mighty Emmaus and Stroudsburg on tap.