It wasn't the kind of "second season" Whitehall head coach George Romano exactly had in mind.

After his team dropped its first game of the season in a 1-0 defeat to Allentown Central Catholic that snapped a 10-game opening-season winning streak last Thursday, Romano decided to begin a "second season" in which his team could possibly begin another winning streak en route back to another invitational to the state title game later this fall.

The Zephyrs quickly responded with a 1-0 victory over Stroudsburg Saturday and then came back with a 9-0 rout over William Allen Monday afternoon. Both wins raised their overall mark to 12-1.

"It was disappointing, but we lost to a good Central Catholic team," Romano said. "It was a good game for both teams and we know all of the teams are coming after us. That's how it has been all season.

"I've told the girls all season that we have a bulls' eye on our backs and teams want to knock us off."

Romano also figured his club would respond positively to the loss.

"These girls know what this season is about and what is at stake for them," he stated. "We take one game at a time and go out there and work as hard as we can. They thought I was going to give them a hard practice after our loss, but we just sat back and talked about things.

"At some point of the season, you have to sit back and evaluate where we are. Once we did that, it seemed to help."

Of course, the real "second season" will be the postseason for the Zephyrs. Last year, they temporarily stumbled late in the season and didn't make the Lehigh Valley Conference tournament. But they then went on a magical run beginning in districts and ending in the PIAA Class A championship game in which they dropped a 3-0 decision.

This season, Kayla and Kourtney Cunningham have continued to lead the assault offensively as they have 23 and 12 goals respectively to lead the team. They have paced an overall balanced effort on offense that seen a number of girls find the net. Whitehall is on pace to better its seasonal total of 81 goals last season.

In the nets, goalies Kelsey Himmelwright and Jude Luckenbill have been a formidable duo that has combined to shutout seven of their first 13 opponents.

"We haven't lost sight of our overall goal to get to the title game," Romano said. "We don't take anything for granted. We just have to go out there and out work other teams on the field."

If they do, their true "second season" should be a good one.