“It wasnt our day. We didn’t play well today, the ball wasn’t rolling our way, we missed shots that we don’t miss usually. We played hard, but sometimes that is not quite enough,” Paly head coach Jamie Nesbitt said.
35 seconds into the game, Layla Memar (’12) scored the first goal of the game for Paly but was quickly matched when St. Francis attack, Haley Libuit (’12) scored off a Paly penalty.
The Lady Vikes however, responded less than two minutes later with a goal by Leigh Dairaghi (’11) who worked the ball in for the 2-1 lead. Approching the five minute mark, Nina Kelty (’13) picked up a ground ball and found Memar who was fouled and put in a second goal off the penalty. Kelty would score with 17 minutes left in play, but the St. Francis team regrouped and would allow only one Paly goal for the remainder of the half.
“I think the biggest thing was that they [St.Francis] won the draw, so they basically had an extra posession every time,” Nesbitt said. “We would have to start with a defensive stop which is just really hard and works the defense too much. We have to learn how to adjust when the draw doesnt go our way.”
Two minutes after Kelty’s goal, Taylor Kotas (’12) of St, Francis scored the first goal of the St. Francis run. Mary Ruder  (’13), Kotas, Liubuit, and Maile Jones (’13) all scored for a combined seven goals and a commanding 9-3 lead at the half.
Fouls were a significant problem for the Lady Vikes, as they lost key players Emy (’12) and Nina Kelty for prolonged periods of time due to yellow cards. St. Francis also scored three goals off of different penalties throughout the game. At the end of the first half of play, Kimmie Flather (’12) was also given a yellow card, forcing the Lady Vikes to play a man down the majority of the game.
“I think we had some trouble communicating on defense and we let up a little and they took advantage of that,” Memar said. “They utilized our mistakes.”
Paly finally ended the Saint Francis run in the beginning of the second half with senior captain Gracie Cain (’11)’s goal down the middle to close the gap to four goals. However, another Paly penalty reopened the scoreboard, as St. Francis put the lead at 10-5. Again the Lady vikes responded, this time with a pass from Dairaghi to Flather who took a shot, but Saint Francis capitalized on the counterattack and found a 11-6 lead.
Into the final stretch of the game, N. Kelty ran nearly the length of the field and scored, to bring back the chance of a comeback in the final eight minutes of play. The momentum was quickly shut down as Liubuit scored just 30 seconds later, ending any real chance for a turnaround for the Lady Vikes.
Both teams scored one goal each as the game came to a close, Sarah Zuccaro (’12) for St. Francis and Vivienne La (’11) for Paly, bringing the final tally to 13-8 in St Francis’ favor.
“Although we started to pick it up and score more goals, we werent quite able to get it up to the level of play we all know we are capable of,” Memar said.
The Lady Vikes will be graduating seven seniors and will rely on rising upperclassmen to continue the success the team has found in it’s past two seasons.
“It’s been a great season,” Nesbitt said. “I think up until this game we had been getting better with every game which is really what you want. By the end of our season we were close to being the best that we were all season which is where you want to be and it is just unfortunate that we didn’t show that today.”