While most fall sports had their openers on Friday Aug. 22, Salisbury field hockey had to wait until the following Tuesday to get underway.

That wait must have felt even longer for senior Gwyn DeFazio, who had to spend the winter, spring, and much of the summer waiting to reach the 100-point milestone for her career.

Midway through the first quarter of last week’s rematch from last season’s Colonial League championship game against Northwestern Lehigh, DeFazio faced a crowd of defenders in front of the goal.

She carved her way through and fired a shot from directly in front of the cage, scoring her first goal of the season while recording her 100th career point and giving the Falcons a 1-0 lead over the Tigers.

“This is really about my teammates, my coaches and everyone who has helped me get here,” said DeFazio. “I wouldn’t be able to score goals if my teammates weren’t passing to me. I wouldn’t be able to get assists if they weren’t scoring off of them. It’s not a solo act; this is a team sport.”

In last year’s championship game, Northwestern got the win, but the Falcons are looking to put their team motto – level up – into motion this season.

The season opener against the Tigers played directly to that goal.

After the first-quarter goal, it took until the midway point of the third quarter until Salisbury struck again.

Kendra Morgan was looking to get a shot from as close as possible and just as she wound up to send the ball to the back of the goal, she was hit by goalie Ryan Smolinsky.

The officials called the penalty on Smolinsky, awarding Salisbury a stroke. Morgan deferred to Ellie Schneider to take the stroke and the junior put the ball past Smolinsky to give the Lady Falcons a 2-0 lead and a little breathing room.

As it turned out, the Falcon defense didn’t need any insurance to work with. It kept frustrating Northwestern and held the Tigers away from the goal, not allowing any solid shots against goalie Caroline Gedney.

Not only did Gedney and the defense pick up a shutout in the opener, but they have held two other opponents scoreless since then. The Falcons downed Palmerton 6-0 and then beat Catasauqua 8-0 on Saturday.

“I love our defensive unit,” said Salisbury senior Meredith Kelley. “I completely trust every single one of those girls that’s back there with me. Our amazing goalie Caroline Gedney is a great communicator, and she and I work really well together on marking in the circle. Ella Morgans starts our transfer and Emma (Yakaitis) has amazing speed. Everyone brings something to the table.”

Offensively, DeFazio leads the team with five goals this season. She and Schneider share the leadership spot in assists with both players having collected four assists in three games. Sarah Beckage, Katie Carbone, Anna Grubb, Kendra Morgan, and Schneider all have two goals in the early going.

“We started really strong, and our girls are confident and worked very hard,” said coach Jane Brennan. “One of the things we wanted to do was to level up and we did that by beating a good program like Northwestern Lehigh. They are always strong and always have a good program. For all of the years that I have been doing this, it feels good, really good, to get an early win against them this season.

“As for Gwyn (DeFazio), I have coached her for four years at the varsity level and she has developed every single year; she has not stopped growing and has not stopped working, even in the offseason. It’s all paid off for her and I am really happy for her.”