Coming off a tough one-goal loss against South River, Howard was determined for a bounce-back performance Friday at home against Mt. Hebron.

Lions coach Diana Carey stressed the importance of working as a unit, and against the Vikings she was pleased with the way her team responded as they pulled away with an impressive, 12-7, win.

“It’s a very good win for us,” she said. “We made some adjustments in practice. We had a pretty rough loss against South River, which frankly I don’t think we should have lost, but we just didn’t play as a unit. We’ve really been trying to work about playing together as a team, less individual and really start to trust each other and I think that came out today.”

Howard started fast off the opening draw. Jenny Kinsey won possession for the Lions, and was the beneficiary of the game’s first goal after finishing off a feed from Jamie Tsao.

After Emileigh Scott won the following draw for Howard Kelly Schluederberg capitalized on the offensive end, finishing on a free position to tally her first of a team-high five goals in the outing.

“If feels really good,” Schluederberg said. “I didn’t score in South River, and I didn’t get any assists, so I don’t know, I was just really determined out here. And it just worked out, we moved the ball really fast, so there was a lot of opportunity.”

The Lions continued dominating on the circle, as they won the first seven draw-controls, and out-possessed Mt. Hebron 12-6 in the game with Scott winning 10 of her team’s 12.

“It’s not just me. Jenny Kinsey and Jess Vetter, I need them just as much when I take the draw,” Scott said. “I thought they did a really good job.”

The Vikings didn’t cross the restraining line until five minutes into the first half after Megan Pallozzi won her team their first draw of the game. Although they didn’t score on the possession, it did swing the momentum toward their side for a bit.

Erin Demek ended the Lions run after burying a free position with 17:48 to play. Mt. Hebron then forced a turnover after Howard won possession on the ensuing draw, and Ellie Miller took advantage with her first goal of the game with 15:48 to play.

The Vikings caused a turnover off their ride, which resulted in Lexi Arens assisting Pallozzi on her second score to cut the deficit, 5-3.

Demek won the ensuing draw, but this time it was Howard’s defense that stepped up and caused a turnover. Kinsey capitalized shortly after to give her team the, 6-3 advantage at the break.

“You’re going to have mistakes and that’s OK. It is what you do after the mistake that matters,” Carey said. “We let them back in there a little bit, but that’s going to happen. They are a very good team. They have some very good players. They are well coached, so you can’t let down or they will jump right back in.”

Schluederberg, Scott and Kinsey scored on consecutive free position goals at the start of the second half to push the Lions cushion to six with about 19 minutes left.

Pallozzi ended the surge, however, as she won possession on the ensuing draw and immediately took it down for the score.

After Schluederberg added a Lions goal about five minutes later, Lindsey Connell and Miller delivered back to back scores to get Mt. Hebron within four.

Demek won the ensuing draw to give the Vikings an opportunity to add onto the run, but Howard goalie Sam Sagi made a big save on a free position by Demek, which ultimately led to another score by Schluederberg at the other end.

“Coach Diana talked a lot about playing as a unit, because in our past game it was kind of sporadic and we weren’t really playing together, so today we just came out and really played as a team,” Schluederberg said. “I think it really helped a lot, and getting the draw was a big factor because you’ve got to have possession, so that was a big thing.”

Scott won the following face off and the Lions slowed down the pace once she crossed the restraining line. They wasted about two minutes before Jenna Peed added to the lead.

Pallozzi put away one more for the Vikings with less than a minute to play, and then after another big save by Sagi Howard ran out the clock to clinch their second county victory.

“We know Hebron is a great team,” Scott said. “They just beat Manchester Valley by one and we knew it was going to be a good game going into it. It was just good to, after the South River game, really regroup and work as a team, and just beat a good team.”

Kinsey followed Schluederberg offensive with four goals, with Tsao chipping in with a score and an assist, while Sagi finished with eight saves in the win.

“I think they followed a little bit of my game plan, which didn’t really happen last game, but that is OK. We’re a work in progress,” Carey added. “We are a young team. We’ve got some nice leadership though, who is helping the young ones step up. And so, we’re just taking it day by day and trying to adjust from everything that we do from the game before and maybe good things will happen, and