No more practices in parking lots or wearing uniforms on which the school name wasn't printed. Susquehannock girls' lacrosse coach Kristin Kowalczyk said just having her team play as an official varsity sport this year has been a huge thrill for her and her players.
The Warriors just happen to have had a great deal of success on the field as well.
Susquehannock closed the regular season with a win over York Suburban on Tuesday to improve to 13-2 overall. Its only two losses came against a talented Kennard-Dale team. For the first time ever, their season will continue with the 16-team District 3 tournament, which begins on Tuesday.
It's a much better situation than in years past when the Warriors and the rest of the YAIAA squads played as club teams (like in 2006, which was when the photo above was taken). Kowalczyk said the team's quote of the year is "living the dream." The Warriors can make the dream that much sweeter by making a run in the district tournament.
The toughest part of that task will be playing against teams across the river in Lancaster, many of which have had varsity programs in place for several years.
"The reality is in districts we will play a Lancaster team and that's OK," Kowalczyk said. "We've prepared for that. We played Cumberland Valley, which is a well-coached Mid-Penn team, and we hung in there and won that game. That was a huge win for us because we didn't know what to expect. We had never played anyone outside of our league for a couple of years because they all had it as a school sport.
"So to play a Lancaster team -- and definitely, definitely they are good -- you know, sure we're a little bit nervous, but we've done everything we could to this point to make ourselves prepared and make ourselves ready. They're going to be fast -- we already know that. We know they can transition the ball right down the field. So are have been working on how to slow them down in the midfield and play good defense."
Susquehannock has some firepower of its own. Kate Sauter is one of several offensive weapons for the Warriors, and led the team with four goals in the regular season finale. Kowalczyk said the Warriors can "pass and catch on a dime" and their transition game "has been top-notch this season." But against these teams from Lancaster, defensive strength may be even more important.
"I think the key is defense," Kowalczyk said. "I think it always has been defense. I was a goalie, so I think to win a championship, you have to have stellar defense, because once you have the ball you can set a stall and just have possession of it, but you have to make sure you stop the other team from whatever they are trying to do."
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