Sep 11, 2014 By Shelby Novak for The 3 min read

Laurel Highlands fought hard against the Norwin, playing hard until the final whistle, yet the Lady Mustangs were defeated, 9-0.

The Lady Knight’s were at their peak, scoring seven goals in the first half. Delanie Hostetler, junior goalkeeper for the Mustangs, faced dozens of shots throughout the game. However, she was able to make a few really nice saves. In the first half, she made two quick saves that came off of a cross from Nowin forward, Abbey Tarosky, to teammate Caitlynd Pietrusza. Hostetler managed to save a total of 10 shots during the game.

Towards the end of the first half the Lady Knight’s started incorporating their goalkeeper into the game by dropping the ball back in order to relieve some pressure they were receiving from the Mustang’s. Norwin goalkeeper, Sam Wexell, was able to touch the ball a total of 10 times in that first half.

It is hard to stay confident and positive when letting a team like Norwin, score so many goals within the first half. Laurel Highlands head coach, David Sohyda gave his team an encouraging talk during halftime.

“I told them that every half that we start out it is always back zero to zero,” Sohyda said. “When you can walk away from the field (at the end of the game) and you feel that you did your best, there is nothing to be ashamed of.”

The Lady Mustang’s must have taken their coaches talk to heart. They stepped back on the field for the second half, fighting even harder than before. They were able to hold Norwin off from scoring until 20 minutes in. Laurel Highlands only allowed Norwin to score two goals in that second half.

Even though this game did not go in the Lady Mustang’s favor, Sohyda was still able to take away some positive aspects.

“The positives I took [from the game] would be that the girls never gave up,” he said. “My girls never once dropped their heads, they continued to play their game, and they played the best they could. They left it all out on the field.”

Norwin sophomore Kelly Kingerski, scored two goals against Laurel Highlands and added an assist. Kingerski’s teammate, junior Micayla Livingston, ended up with two assists (to Jess Boytim and Emily Harrigan) and scored a goal of her own as well.

Laurel Highlands travels to Latrobe on Monday for a 7:30 p.m. game.