Following a 3-0 loss to Western Reserve Sept. 24, Hiland coach Pat Miller challenged his soccer team to dig deep to figure out what kind of team they wanted to be.

The team had several days to figure it out before taking the field on Thursday, Sept. 29 at home against New Philadelphia.

Maybe it was the nasty weather, with a downpour taking place much of the second half of the game, creating a field that was almost impossible to make cuts on. Maybe it was the team coming together after the talk by Miller following the Western Reserve game that proved to be the inspiration. Maybe it was getting back two key components in keeper Julie Raber and midfielder Hannah Stoneman. Maybe it was a new aggressive game plan.

Whatever the reason, the Lady Hawks took it to the Quakers, controlled the tempo of the game and trudged off the field soaking wet, muddy and in great spirits, with a 2-0 victory.

One player returning to give a spark to the Lady Hawks was Raber, who sat out two games as she healed a hyper-extended elbow. Raber was having problems just picking the ball up off the ground and making routine stops, so Miller gave her time off, and the rest paid, as Raber looked almost back to normal in goal.

“It feels awesome to get back out here and play,” said Stoneman. “It’s been a lot of games... way too many games. It feels good just to be back out here with the team getting touches rather than watching from the sideline. I missed it a lot. I definitely was rusty tonight, and my touches were off, but I just wanted to go out and play hard for the team.”

Miller said he could see a difference from the get-go with Stoneman in the starting line-up. And despite limited minutes as he worked his middie back into the action, he said the team’s mind-set and effort picked up.

“We felt looser tonight, Julie was back in goal and Hannah, we finally got Hannah back in action,” said Miller. “We didn’t have Hannah for a ton of time tonight, but we definitely could see a difference in our play when she was out there. You don’t realize how much you miss people until they come back and you see the difference in play. And it was nice to see Julie able to pick up balls on the ground with two hands. When she was hurt, balls were getting through that she would have otherwise easily gotten. I think with those two back, our confidence was a whole lot higher.”

Miller also altered the team’s offensive attack. They had been playing with just one forward, trying to secure the defensive end of the field, but with a lack of offensive pizzazz gnawing at the coaching staff and the team game after game, Miller said it was time to become more offensive-minded.

It paid off immediately, as Hiland gained control of the ball and kept it, although it didn’t result in any immediate goals. With three minutes to play in the first half, Allison Hochstetler found herself in front of the net, and fired off a nice shot, but Quakers keeper Samantha Glazier made a beautiful stop on the ball, knocking it back out toward Hochstetler. The Hiland forward fired a pass across the mouth of the net, and Glazier again made a great play diving forward and smothering the ball.

Coming out of the half, Hiland may have played the best 20 minutes of the season.

An all-out assault on the Quakers net soon led to a Hiland corner kick, and Irelie Riggle drove a scorcher in front of the net, where Mackenzie Miller found it and shot it past Glazier for the lead.

“It felt good to see us make the back of the net move,” said Miller.

Less than four minutes later, Riggle produced a second goal, and the Lady Hawks were reveling in their new offensive prowess.

For the next 15 minutes Hiland (5-5-2) continued to put pressure on the Quakers, but over the final 15 minutes they went into prevent defense mode, and the attacking stopped. New Philadelphia had some looks, especially in the last two minutes, but Raber and the defense was up to the task, completing the shutout.

As for the change in philosophy, Miller said of the decision to move into more of an attacking mode, “Sometimes you just have to scrap what you think is right and start over. It wasn’t working. You know, best laid plans; with injuries like we’ve had, we just couldn’t keep going with what we had. How long can you keep beating that dead horse?

Miller said the new scheme brought excitement and hope back to the players, whom he said were hanging their heads. The aggressive style is a style that Miller said they have not used before, and he said it is designed to take advantage of the middle of the field more.

It worked, if not to perfection, at least to a level in which Hiland kept a large amount of pressure on the Quakers defense.

“We created a ton of really good looks,” said Miller. “I would have liked to see us convert some more of them, but it was nice to see us playing more aggressively and with some passion.

Considering the new scheme, Miller was pleased with the team’s effort and their ability to pick it up.

Defensively, the shutout pleased Miller, and it was impressive considering the sloppy conditions made it nearly impossible to maneuver on either side of the field.

“It was a challenge just trying to get around the ball,” said senior Rebekah Strong. “But hey, you just have to push through it and do whatever it takes to win the ball. Once it really started raining hard in the second half, it was very hard just to not slip around when you were trying to move. But as long as you know that you’ve got someone backing you up, you could always be aggressive and push through to try to take over the ball.”

So it was that after the final horn had sounded, at a time when people trudged off the field in search of dry clothes and a warm car, the Lady Hawks were celebrating in the freezing cold rain, giving little thought to the elements, and focusing instead on their new hope.