No lightning was flashing atop the Blue Mountain, but field hockey sticks were smashing in an exciting Colonial League opener for Pen Argyl and visiting Catasauqua last Friday.

The Catty girls would fall 2-1.

After dominating for the first ten minutes of the game, the Lady Rough Riders let a breakaway from Pen Argyl result in a Nicole Kocher goal. That made it 1-0 at the half.

Catty did a fine job of not causing corners, only giving up two in the game. But, the Green Knights scored again with 24:16 to go in the second half.

The Rough Riders finally scored with 2:05 left on a corner. Erika Lebron shot the ball to the opposite post where freshman Quinn Bachman was there to tip it in.

"We knew we needed to pick up the pace of the game," Saul said. "Finally, we played at how we should the full 60 minutes. We were doing a great job at breaking down their plays earlier on the field and carried the ball well down the right and left sidelines."

Saul said she moved Paige Kogelman from center-mid to the left wing position to generate more offense and it worked.

Catty dominated the last 10 minutes of the game, according to Saul, and the girls had an opportunity to tie it up with less than one minute remaining on another penalty corner. The again, with 10 seconds left, a ball was shot just wide of the cage.

"Megan Covert and Erika Lebron had wonderful games offensively, and Bailey Kudla-Williams did a great job bringing the ball wide right and up the field on the defensive end of the ball," Saul added.

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On Saturday, Sept. 8, Catty took on Bethlehem Catholic and tied 3-3.

Catty's Erika Lebron using her speed almost had a hat trick, netting two goals. The Rough Riders couldn't escape thunder and lightning on Saturday and the game was cut short with 14:27 left.

Becahi led 3-1 at halftime as Catty fought back to tie.

The Roughs forced Becahi's Meaghan Roszyk to make 16 saves in the game as Catty peppered her with 19 shots. Janae Matos saved six for the Roughs.

Hannah Edwards had Catty's other goal and assisted both of Lebron's goals. Rachel Peters assisted on Edward's tally.

"In Saturday's game, I switched some players around to add more of an offensive threat," Saul said. "We have been doing a fine job of drawing corners offensively. Defensively, my backs have done a great job at recovering for each other. Shea O'Brien had a great game plugging up Becahi's long balls."

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The Rough Riders came out with a win over Palmerton, 4-2.

While Saul was happy with the effort, she said, "We have to cut to the ball and then control also working on execution of plays, following our shots into goals."

Hannah Edwards and Megan Covert each scored two goals and Erika Lebron had two assists.

Janae Matos made 11 saves in the win.

"Janae Matos commands the defense, does a nice job of reading plays as the goalie," Saul said.

Saul added, Paige Kogelman at center-mid did a nice job of facing the ball. And, Megan Covert followed her shots while Erika Lebron did a nice job of drawing coverage.