Once the district playoffs start, every senior knows that they could be playing in the final game of their high school career.

Northampton senior field hockey player Lauren Reznick described the feeling, “I was so nervous, just putting my jersey on today. I thought in the back of my head that this could be my last game. Like, I really want to put my all into this. I don’t want this to be my last game of the season.”

Reznick’s goal with 8:13 left in regulation proved to be the game-winner as the Konkrete Kids exacted a bit of revenge against Nazareth to win 2-1 and advance to the district semifinals against Emmaus.

It did not come easy for Northampton. Nazareth drew first blood toward the end of the first quarter when Kayla Phillipovich knocked down a high floating ball into the Kids’ cage.

For almost two full periods, the Blue Eagles clung to the 1-0 advantage until Madi Williamson converted on the Kids’ seventh corner of the night.

Williamson described the goal, “The drive was a little messed up, but then I saw the ball and one-touched it and hoped for the best. The best happened and I scored off it.”

Reznick’s goal was also on a corner. She gathered a loose ball in front of the Nazareth cage, pivoted to her right and forced the shot past the Blue Eagle goalie.

Still the job was not done. In the EPC playoffs, the K-Kids surrendered the tying goal to Nazareth with less than a minute to play in regulation and lost in overtime.

This time, they had to survive a green card that left them a player down for two minutes and a Nazareth corner as time expired.

Head coach Carrie Saul described how the team survived those final minutes, “We practiced everything between the EPC game and today. We talked about overtime. We went through shootouts. We prepared as much for this game and tried to get every scenario out there. I had a lot of confidence in the girls and I told them to make a hard clear out wide. No dinky little moves.”

For Reznick, the emotion of the moment was palpable, “I was so scared. I literally crossed my fingers and prayed that we kept it out. It was one of those moments that I was just like, ‘Please just let us have this, especially since what happened last time in EPC’s.’”

When the EPC All-Star teams were announced, Reznick and Williamson were both named first team all-conference. Grace Roberts earned third team all-conference honors. A glaring omission was sensational freshman Liv Churetta. Primarily playing as a back on defense, she did not accumulate a ton of scoring stats, but it is clear that she is already an elite player.