The Salisbury field hockey team has already earned Colonial League silver medals. And Wednesday evening the Falcons will be getting more medals after they play in the District 11 title game.

There’s another thing the team earned this year in addition to the league and district hardware.

It might not be quite as visible, but every Falcon will wear it just as proudly as those medals.

“I think we’ve earned a lot of respect,” said junior forward Sarah Beckage. “Most teams last year thought it was going to be an easy win against us. Now Southern Lehigh is coming to scout our games. Knowing that they’re scared is a great feeling.”

Just a few seasons ago it was the Falcons that feared opponents. Now they instill fright upon others.

They played in the Colonial League title game this fall, the team’s first appearance in the league playoffs in 23 years. Salisbury won two playoffs games before falling to juggernaut Northwestern in the final.

As the No. 2 seed for the District 11 Class 2A playoffs, Salisbury (18-4) took down No. 3 Pocono Mountain East (7-11) in the first round last week, 4-0, to advance to Wednesday’s district championship.

“Everyone was so happy,” junior forward Emma Yakaitis of the semifinal win. “We’ve never been to district finals before. It was an amazing feeling to know that we’re going there for the first time.”

Falcon senior forward Maya Afif put the Falcons in front of the Cardinals 1-0 with a goal with 7:43 left in the first quarter, assisted by Kendra Morgan.

Beckage made it 2-0 with 2:46 left in the first half. The goal marked the first of three assists in the game for junior midfielder Gwyn DeFazio.

Sophomore midfielder Katie Carbone put her team ahead 3-0 with just 39 seconds left in the first half, with an assist from DeFazio.

Morgan finished the scoring with a goal just 1:22 into the second half, assisted by DeFazio.

“It felt really great,” said Afif. “Exactly like how it felt during leagues. I knew we would most likely be seeing Southern Lehigh again. I knew it was a game we’d have to work hard for. Now we’re seeing Southern Lehigh again.”

Salisbury will meet the Spartans for a fourth time this year in Wednesday’s final, which is slated for 6 p.m. at Whitehall High School.

Southern Lehigh beat Salisbury twice in the regular season, but the Falcons avenged them with a 2-0 win on Oct. 15 to knock the Spartans out of the league tournament.

“We hadn’t been able to beat them,” said Beckage. “We finally beat them to get them out of leagues. To be able to play them again and show them it wasn’t a fluke is a really good feeling.”

“Playing them for the fourth time, “ said Yakaitis, “you now know a lot about them and how they play.

“We’re very confident in what we do and how we play. We know exactly what to do. We’ve done it before and I think we can definitely do it again.”

After reaching the district tournament in each of the past two seasons, Salisbury came into this year with a confidence that has grown exponentially as the team keeps winning.

It’s mostly a product of the players working together for the past few seasons and believing in one another.

“We’re all just very well-known with each other,” said Beckage. “We know where everyone is going to be on the field. It’s a warm feeling when you know everyone is out there is with you. In prior years not everyone knew what they were doing exactly but this team has a lot of experience.”

With a win Wednesday, the Falcons will advance to the state playoffs. That goal seemed more like a dream just a few month ago, but now it could become reality.

“When we started our practices in August,” said Yakaitis. “We were like ‘We’re going to states. We’re going to be here in November. We’re going to get there.’ But I don’t know if we believed we could. It’s amazing we could be going to states for the first time ever.”

The Falcons will have to play the rest of the way without their leading goal scorer as senior Lauren Kushma, who transferred from Emmaus, is not eligible for the rest of the postseason because of transfer rules.

Kushma had 24 goals and 9 assists this fall.

“Lauren was such a great addition to our team and has helped us make it to where we are,” said Afif, the only senior on the Falcons’ postseason roster. “But we are definitely confident with the way we are now. There’s a lot of players on our team with a great amount of skill and speed.”

DeFazio is second on the team in goals and points with 22 goals and 19 assists this season. Afif has 21 goals and three helpers. Morgan has scored 12 times and assisted eight times. Beckage has 11 goals and an assist.

Ellie Schneider has assisted on 11 goals this fall while scoring seven. Carbone has also scored seven goals while assisting on three.

Salisbury junior goal keeper Caroline Gedney has posted 15 shut outs this season, including three times in four postseason games