With their momentum building in the postseason, Whitehall head girls soccer coach George Romano sees his team possibly in a better situation than they were last season.

The veteran coach's instincts appear to be more correct than in question. Comparable to last season, the Zephyrs have shaken a miscue in the Lehigh Valley Conference playoff and have emerged as a front-runner to make a return trip to Hershey in the upcoming weeks.

"We do have a similar club to last season" said Romano, whose team began the week with an overall 17-2-1 slate. "But this season, I believe we have more team chemistry and more players taking responsibility of their lives on and off the field.

"We appear to be more mature as a team. We have seniors who went through the playoff run last season and they now know how to prepare better and what to expect. It should help us in the long run."

Seniors Kayla and Kourtney Cunningham continue to be the focal point of the team. Kayla, who recently became the area's all-time leading scorer in girls' soccer and is among the leaders in the state, was chosen as the Most Valuable Player for the Lehigh Valley Conference (LVC) for the fourth consecutive year.

Kourtney also gained first-team honors in the LVC and Natalee Rackus garnered Honor Mention honors. However, Kourtney's season was recently cut short to knee injury.

The Zephyrs also rebounded from 3-2 defeat to Parkland in the finals of the Lehigh Valley Conference Oct. 18. A week earlier, the two teams battled to a 2-2 tie in the regular season clash. Last season , the Zephyrs failed to qualify for the LVC playoffs.

In the opening round of districts this season, after a bye for their third seed, Whitehall downed Pleasant Valley, 3-1.

"We executed well in that game," said Romano. "We suffered the loss to Parkland, but the girls bounced right back. We have had some good practices, and these girls are pretty resilient. They can deal with a number of situations well."

With the win, the Zephyrs moved to the next round Thursday night to face second-seeded Stroudsburg, who blanked Easton 1-0, in their opening-round game. Both teams met Sept. 29, and the Zephyrs pulled out a 1-0 victory.

"Stroudsburg is a very good team," said Romano. "We had a tough game with them the first time around. We will respect them and come ready to play. It will likely be another tight game."

Should the Zephrys win, they could meet top-seed Parkalnd for the fourth time this season. Parkland met Nazareth in another semifinal match Thursday night.