Down two goals with 10 minutes remaining Tuesday night, Jamie Warren implored the Upper Perkiomen field hockey team not to give up. Warren, the

Upper Perk's Abriana Gatto squeezes the ball past the Perk Valley goalie in the second half to score  the Indians second goal in the Pioneer Athletic Conference semifinal playoff game Tuesday  night.

team's head coach, told her players to compete with all their hearts.

            "That's what we coach for," she said. "I wanted the girls to be dead tired at the end of the game."

            The Indians responded with a burst of enthusiasm against Perkiomen Valley in the Pioneer Athletic Conference semifinal playoff game. However, it wasn't enough to prevent a 3-2 defeat.   

            "The outcome was not what we wanted," junior midfielder AiYi Young said. "But we put up a fight. It's good to know we're capable of that. We had plenty of opportunities to score. We need to learn to put the ball in the cage sooner." 

            Danielle Hamm scored all three goals for the Vikings, who rallied from a 1-0 deficit at Upper Perkiomen High School. Saige Shine added two assists for Liberty Division champions, who return to the Red Hill school Thursday to take on Owen J. Roberts for the conference title.

Bella Carpenter and Abriana Gatto scored for the Indians (11-8), the No. 2 seed from the Frontier Division who had their six-game winning streak snapped. Goalkeeper Lynnsi Joyce recorded 12 saves.

            Carpenter's goal on a penalty corner less than eight minutes into the game opened the scoring. Upper Perkiomen dominated the initial 15 minutes with quality passing, solid connections and an aggressive offensive drive.

            Warren said the team displayed similar attributes during their recent stretch of success, which included lopsided victories over Pottstown (8-0) on Oct. 11 and Pope John Paul II (4-0) on Oct, 12. She added that the implementation three ninth graders - including Kylene Gooch, Luci Carpenter and Takoda Wells - helped solidify the lineup over the last two weeks.  "Everything just seemed to click," Young said.

             The coach felt comfortable fielding four freshmen, including Joyce, during the playoff game. "I'm happy with the way they performed," Warren said.  However, Perkiomen Valley responded with three consecutive goals. Hamm converted a pair of penalty corners with 13:10 and 10:50 remaining in the first half to put her team ahead 2-1 at halftime. Less than eight minutes into the second half, she converted on a penalty corner to make it 3-1.

            According to Young, the goal deflated the Indians. She said Warren's encouragement during a timeout with 10:14 left in the second half boosted the players' spirits, and Gatto's goal off a penalty corner with 6 minutes, 20 seconds left in the second half provided additional motivation.

            "We were all so happy," Young said. "We had plenty of energy left. We should have started the comeback a little sooner."

            Upper Perkiomen will await its seeding in the District One Class AA Tournament, which will be announced Thursday. The tournament starts Tuesday.