Over the past three seasons, Whitehall's girls' soccer program has raised its awareness and respectability to rise from the ranks of pretender to contender. Two seasons ago, the Zephyrs rode some early season momentum all the way to the state Class AAA championship game.

As a result, Whitehall has found itself with a target on its back. That target was tarnished slightly when the Zephyrs didn't receive an invite to the state tournament.

This season, Whitehall lost key players from thatstate runner-up team and expectations appeared to be lower in the process. Still, the Zephyrs remain a force in the Lehigh Valley Conference as they approach this season in a different manner. In fact, it has been a season with some uncharacteristic results.

Through their first four games, Whitehall had a 2-2 record. They stormed out of the gates winning their first two games routing Pen Argyl (7-0) and Northampton (7-1) before they lost games to Nazareth (4-0) and Parkland (5-1).

Still, head coach George Romano hasn't deviated from the plan of his team being a contender this season.

"Sometimes you have to take two steps backward before you go forward," offered Romano. "Any team that plays us knows they will be in for a fight. In the past, people didn't think too much of the program, but know this program has a name for itself.

"We have some players back from last year and we are working some new players into the system. But we will continue to work to play to our potential every time out there. Nazareth came to play and looked better than we did. They (Nazareth) played a better second half than us.

"We need to be able to play a full game, and sometimes we don't do that."

Junior Kourtney Cunningham has been leading the way in scoring and overall play for the Zephyrs as she tallied five goals through the team's first four games. Younger sister freshman Kylee had two goals as the sisters will look to fill the void of their older sister Kayla, who graduated last year and left as the Lehigh Valley's all-time goal scorer.

Romano also has been pleased with the play of seniors Jen Davis and Taylor George, both of whom are veterans of the program. Junior goalkeeper Jude Luckenbill has once again been a force in the nets this season.

He is also optimistic his club can jell together toward the end of the season to peak at the right time. The Zephyrs has two more big tests this week when they faced both Easton and Emmaus.

"Every game is a challenge, but we just have to play our game," noted Romano. "We have a number of young players who can help us, but they are not there yet. I told the girls that they have to form their own legacy this year, and now is a good time to start. We have to continue to play hard and see what happens."