Towamencin- After starting off strong in Wednesday night’s game against the Central Bucks East Patriots, the North Penn Knights field hockey team lost in overtime making it their 3rd loss in a row. 

The Knights (3-3) fell to the Patriots (3-2) at home in a key SOL matchup, prompting head coach Shannon McCracken to reflect on what most needs to change to get the Knights back in the win column. 

“We aren’t playing as a team. We have too many individual efforts out there. We need to get back to the basics and playing as a team,”  McCracken said.

The Knights started strong with a goal from sophomore Riley O’Donnell in the first 3 minutes and 30 seconds of the game with the assist coming from senior captain Madison Waldspurger, who played a big role in facilitating the offense for the Knights. 

In the second quarter, the Knights went up 2-0 on the Patriots with a goal from sophomore Caleigh Sperling with the assist again from Waldspurger. Only a minute after Sperling’s goal, the Patriots scored their first goal on North Penn goalie Kiera Holt who had 4 saves in the first half. 

After halftime, the momentum seemed to shift away from the Knights as they went scoreless in the 2nd half with many missed opportunities to score. 

“Unfortunately we had so many more opportunities tonight and we didn’t put anything on the scoreboard and [the Patriots] didn’t have as many opportunities and they got some goals on the scoreboard, so we’ve got to clean up on both sides on the field,” McCracken said. 

With a minute left in the 3rd quarter, East scored the game-tying goal after a lull in the Knights’ defense. Entering the 4th quarter, both teams’ persistent offenses missed big opportunities to score and led the game into overtime. 

Entering overtime, Erin O’Donnell pressured the East defense with a shot inches wide left, and Annabelle Smink stopped what could’ve been dangerous possessions for the Patriots. The overtime effort was not enough for the Knights as the Patriots finished them off by scoring the game-deciding goal and completing the comeback.  

“We started off really strong. This is a tough league, there are no easy games for us to play, and we seemed to have forgotten about that,”  Senior Captain Linsey Gilbert said, reflecting on the team’s performance.  

The Knights will travel to Pennsbury on Friday, looking to break their three-game losing streak