Last week, the Molloy Lady Lions, looked to improve on our less than stellar outing in New Hampshire, with two more non-conference games. Wednesday, we travelled to Philadelphia to take on the Tigers of Holy Family. We hit some pretty bad traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway (no news there, right!), but we were blessed with 80 degrees and sunshine, so it was time for sunscreen and the Bucket Hat!

Holy Family has not been a strong team, recently, but the way we had been playing and when I saw them warming up, I was a bit concerned that we could end up in a “dog fight”. Those concerns, turned out to be unwarranted, as the Lions scored three goals in the first three minutes, and never really looked back, on their way to a 17 – 4, road win. We had eight different goal scorers and thirteen of our goals were assisted! As much as we dominated the game in every way, the second half performance was a bit lacking, which was somewhat disappointing. Still, we were happy to get the victory, and get on the Jersey Turnpike and headed for home.

By Thursday, our attention had turned to our next opponent, Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont, on Sunday. I thought we had a couple of good film sessions and then practices, in preparation for the Purple Knights. We practiced early, Saturday morning, before getting on the bus and heading north, for what should have been, about a six hour ride.

Our bus driver, just following the directions given by his GPS, ended up taking us to a ferry station on the New York side of Lake Champlain. The problem was, the lake was frozen! The ferry was shut down! Now, we had to go all the way around the northern tip of the lake and then travel east into Vermont and then south to Colchester. So, our six hour ride, ended up being a nine hour journey! I was worried that it might adversely effect our players, but they seemed to take it in stride and remained upbeat, throughout.

Sunday was a cold and grey, day, but our hotel was only a ten minute ride, from the Saint Michael’s campus, so we had that going for us. I was worried that the travel and winter weather, would take its toll, but as we warmed up, it was easy to feel the enthusiasm, our team had. You had to love that!

The home team was hungry for its first win of the season, and they jumped out to an early 1 – 0 lead. The Lady Lions quickly answered with one of their own, and the game settled into a very closely contested affair. The Purple Knights lead 4 – 2 at the end of the first quarter, but we tied it at 4, a few minutes into the second quarter. St. Michael’s took a 6 -4 advantage into halftime and made it 7 – 4, early in the third quarter. It was at this point, I feared, we would crumble, as in previous games, when faced with a deficit. Instead, we responded with the next three tallies to tie it at 7, with a little less than six minutes remaining in the quarter!

The Knights led 9 – 8, heading into the final quarter and made it 10 – 8, less than three minutes in. The Lions answered, to make it 10 – 9, with about ten minutes left in the game. But that would be our last score, and St. Michael’s added an insurance goal with 4:20 remaining, handing us a tough 11 – 9, road loss.

I am not big on moral victories, but we competed so much better in this game, than we had in our other losses. With that, I was pleased. When faced with two and three goal deficits, we did not fold. We answered! This was our best performance against a good opponent, so far. We showed up with the “Three E’s” – Energy, Effort and Enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the “Fourth E” – Execution, is what hurt us. On a day when we dominated the Draw Controls, we committed 27 Turnovers and were only 12 of 20 on Clears!

So, while some important strides were made and there was plenty to be happy with, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. We are back in action, tomorrow at Caldwell and at home against Southern Connecticut on Saturday. Two more opportunities for growth, before we begin Conference play next week!

After the game, I got to have a brief visit with my “cousins” (not actual cousins), Linda, Jeff and Dylan, who had made the hour and forty five minute drive up from Rutland. Of course, it was only a few minutes, but it was great to see them!

Go Lions!