WHITEHALL - A year ago, Melanie Kachmar and her Lehighton field hockey team went against powerful Moravian Academy in the District 11 semifinals. The result was a season-ending 8-0 defeat

Kachmar, now a senior, experienced a bit of deja vu on Wednesday night as her Indians dropped another 8-0 setback to the Lions.While the results were similar, there were some important differences.This time, Lehighton was able to reach the District 11 1A championship game before running into the Lions. It was the first title game appearance for the Indians since 2010.The most important difference, however, was the fact that this loss doesn't end Lehighton's season.The Indians 3-2 overtime victory over Pen Argyl in the district semifinals clinched a berth in the PIAA State tournament.So rather than having her high school career come to an end with yesterday's loss, Kachmar and the rest of her seven classmates will get a chance to redeem themselves.The Indians will need to put the loss behind them quickly and focus on gaining some redemption when they open state tournament play on Tuesday."We knew we had to play as a team, but we kind of just let that whole idea get away from us today," said Kachmar, who finished with the Indians' lone shot on goal in the setback. "We're looking forward to states now. We know that we have to come out 10-times stronger than what we did in today's game."Despite the lopsided score, Lehighton coach Karen Wall was able to find some positives to build on during the second half. After surrending six first-half goals, the Indians held the potent Lions' offense to just a pair of goals after intermission."I have said it many times, this team does not give up. They played hard until the very end of the game," said Wall. "I just wish they played the first half the way that we played the second half because in the second half, they were starting to work together."They know what they did wrong in the first half, but they played the rest of the game as a team and didn't give up. We kept going at it until the last whistle."It didn't take Wall very long to put yesterday's loss behind her."We're going to have practice and get right back out on the field Thursday," Wall said. "Get right back to our drills. Get right back to playing together. Work on our stick work."Basically, the thing we need to do is play together - that's what we're going to work on. We got this."Senior defender Elise Johnston said that Wall wasn't the only one who stayed positive and maintained the faith despite the lopsided score."Luckily, we have really optimistic parents and fans that will help us get through it and they always believe in us," Johnston said. "I think we need to believe in ourselves. We're a really connected team and we're all friends outside of the field."So, to keep our spirits up, we will just have to come to practice and act like this never happened. We're going to come into states as a fresh, new team."