The 2024 field hockey season turned out to be a very special one for Salisbury.

For the first time since 2003, the Falcons reached the Colonial League playoffs and were runners-up for a league championship.

In the District 11 Class 2A playoffs, the team again reached the finals before falling to Southern Lehigh 2-0 at Whitehall’s Zephyr Sports Complex.

The first four minutes of the title game showed what would turn out to be an issue for most of the night as Southern Lehigh drew four corners during that time. Over the next 11 minutes, Southern Lehigh (19-4-0) was awarded three more corners, but those also turned into missed opportunities for the Spartans.

While Salisbury (18-5) was unable to draw any first-quarter corners, the Falcons were awarded a penalty stroke with 2:02 left in the quarter. Junior Gwyn DeFazio took the stroke for Salisbury and fired a hard shot, but put it wide left of the cage, keeping the game scoreless.

Over the rest of the night Southern Lehigh drew 14 more corners including 10 in the second quarter.

With just 3:30 left before halftime, Southern Lehigh’s Ella Bauscher took the insert off of a corner and fired it toward the goal where Sierra Giannattasio stuck out her stick to deflect the ball just past goalie Caroline Gedney and into the back of the goal for a 1-0 lead that Southern Lehigh took into halftime.

Salisbury was able to limit Southern Lehigh’s corners in the second half to just three in the third quarter and one in the fourth.

The Spartans took advantage of a corner that was given with time running out in the third quarter as Bauscher and Giannattasio reversed roles on the play and Bauscher picked up the goal to give her team a little breathing room with a 2-0 lead going into the final period of play.

“The corners got to be exhausting, especially in the first half,” said Salisbury head coach Jane Brennan. “Our defensive team held their own as long as they could over and over and over again, but that goes to show you that they are a special squad of girls who played hard.”

The Lady Falcons never lost their aggressiveness and after being awarded no corners through the first half, they picked one up in the third and added four more in the final quarter. However, none of the corners were turned into goals and Southern Lehigh was able to hang on to collect district gold medals.

“We wanted a more offensive game than a defensive game,” said Brennan. “We just couldn’t push the ball far enough up front to get opportunities to shoot and score. Overall, the girls played with a lot of grit and a lot of determination and I’m not disappointed at all. In fact, I am so proud of them and how far they came this season.”

While earning silver medals in both the league playoffs and in districts was an accomplishment for the up and coming Salisbury program, the loss in the district final ended the Falcons’ season with just one team from 2A going to states this season.

The Falcons had to play without senior midfielder Lauren Kushma, who was ruled to be ineligible for districts because of transfer rules. Kushma finished the season with a team leading 24 goals and 19 assists, which tied DeFazio for the team lead in assists.

Kushma transferred from Emmaus, where she played last season, to Allentown Central Catholic before the season and played for the Falcons through a co-op agreement that the school has with Central Catholic, which does not have a field hockey program. The agreement allows Central Catholic students who want to play field hockey to play as members of Salisbury, but because of the transfer, Kushma had to sit out districts.

“One thing about Lauren is that she attended every practice even though she knew she wasn’t eligible, and she played a tough defense against our girls in practice to get them ready for this game,” said Brennan. “Lauren is a dynamic player, and we had to fill the hole and that was hard to do.”

The Spartans won their first district championship since 2021, which was the second of two straight, while Salisbury was looking for the first district championship in the program’s history.