The Salisbury boys’ soccer team had one of the toughest schedules in the Colonial League during the shortened 2020 season due to COVID-19. It included games against the top three teams - Southern Lehigh, Moravian Academy and Northwestern - who have combined to go 22-0 and represent the top three teams in the league tournament that began on Tuesday.

The Falcons’ regular season came to a close against the No. 1 seeded Spartans of Southern Lehigh (8-0) last week. And while the 2-1 loss dropped Salisbury to 1-6 in Colonial League play, head coach Mark Allinson remains optimistic after a strong showing.

“We got smoked by Northwestern,” Allinson said of the team’s 6-0 loss back on October 6. “We were winning 1-0 against Southern Lehigh with about 20 minutes to go. The first half, we jumped all over them. If we had a couple of balls fall where they should have, it could have easily been 4-0. But credit to their program. They’ve found ways to win in the past, and that’s something that our kids need to be able to do, particularly if we qualify for districts.”

With a District 11 playoff berth still a possibility, the fact that Salisbury hung with Southern Lehigh for much of the game should bode well for any postseason games that might be in the future.

Salisbury, however, doesn’t control it’s own destiny anymore, and will need a bit of help. Bethlehem Catholic (1-8-1 overall), the current No. 9 seed, has two games remaining this week that will sort out the rest of the field. The Falcons (3-7 overall) are currently the eighth and final seed in the Class 2A rankings.

“We’ve played a pretty grueling schedule,” Allinson said. “We had Southern Lehigh, Moravian Academy, Saucon Valley and Northwestern. I think there are seven teams that qualified for districts that we played.

“We’re waiting, and we’re still practicing. We had a couple of things happen this weekend that kept us alive.”

Despite the tough schedule, Allinson would rather have played that type of competition to see where his team actually stood.

“But we wouldn’t have really known how good we were,” Allinson said. “I’d rather go in [to districts] as an underdog than as a favorite.”

If the Falcons do qualify for districts, they will likely have to rely on their stout defense if any sort of upset is expected. Baxter Reihman, the Falcons’ leader in goal, has been key in keeping Salisbury alive in multiple games.

“Defensively, our goalkeeper Baxter Reihman has kept us in games,” Allinson said. “We haven’t scored a ton of goals this season,” Allinson said. “We haven’t had as many games obviously, but that seems to be the issue that we’ve been having in years past. We’re relying on our defense a whole heck of a lot to keep us in games. Our offensive attack has really been limited.”

The last time Salisbury qualified for districts was in 2016, when the Falcons captured the Class 2A crown. If the Falcons can put together a full 80 minutes of play in its 2020 postseason run, Allinson believes they can compete with any of the seven other teams in the 2A field.

“I’m pretty optimistic if we can play at that level,” Allinson said. “And that’s just a question of if we can play a full 80 minutes. We do real well over 40 and over 60. Our depth isn’t overly abundant.

“Our kids deserve it. They’ve busted their butts. There’s a core group of kids that have been working at it since July 1 on their conditioning.”