A full moon rose over the East stands at BASD stadium on a chilly Wednesday night as the curtain descended on the Liberty Hurricanes’ field hockey season after a 4-2 loss to Stroudsburg in the opening round of the District XI playoffs in the battle between the 4th and 5th seeds.

The ‘Canes were looking for their third victory of the season over the Mounties after having defeated them 1-0 during the regular season and 2-0 in the first round of the EPC tournament.

Stroudsburg had the better of the early pressure and were able to convert on a penalty corner for the first goal of the game at the 21:50 mark.

Liberty equalized 8 minutes later on a penalty corner of its own when EPC MVP Rayne Wright took Sadie Abboud’s insertion pass, brought it back just inside the shooting circle, and uncorked a blast that beat the Stroudsburg keeper.

The Mountaineers answered back with 9:30 to go in the first half by converting yet another penalty corner.

The Hurricanes tied the score when McKenna Burkhardt put home a rebound following another Abboud to Wright penalty corner play. The teams took the 2-2 score into halftime.

Stroudsburg scored twice during the run of play in the second half and altered its defensive strategy to hold Liberty scoreless.

“They seemed to shut down my star players. They were able to shut down Rayne and Sadie by triple teaming them and the other players were a little off their games tonight,” head coach Karen Nilson said.

As the team gathered on the bench after the game, the seniors struggled to find the words express their emotions at having played their field hockey games for Liberty. However, the tears on their faces showed how much the experience and camaraderie had meant to them.

Nilson expressed her gratitude to the team.

“You made it this far (14-2-2 in the regular season, tied for 3rd in the EPC) after losing 8 seniors from last year. Your record is phenomenal. You overcame some coaching changes (head coach Mary Katheryn Omdahl resigned midseason). The last two weeks have been so much fun. When I go home, I’m smiling from ear-to-ear. I want to thank you for those memories.”