PEN ARGYL - A little extra practice time paid huge dividends for Pen Argyl.

With more than a week to prepare for their District 11 Class 1A field hockey quarterfinal round playoff game, the Green Knights focused on their biggest weakness.That extra practice might not have made the Knights perfect, but it made them nearly perfect at finishing.Pen Argyl had its second highest goal output of the season on Wednesday to defeat Palmerton, 4-1."We've struggled to score goals this season," said Pen Argyl coach Fran Rowley. "We've done a pretty nice job of creating chances, but we've really struggled finishing."We've had a lot of time off since our last game, so the last few practices we've done a lot of offensive work in the circle. I think that paid off today."The Green Knights, who averaged just 1.4 goals a game this season and scored more than two goals just three times in 19 games, had no problem finishing opportunities against Palmerton.Pen Argyl got goals from three different players and scored on four of its eight shots.Samantha Lau scored a pair of goals and had an assist for the Knights, Olivia Teel had a goal and three assists, and Maghan Walsh added the final goal.First half goals by Lau and Teel made things tough on the Bombers."We had a couple of breakdowns on their first half goals and then we started pressing a little when we fell behind," said Palmerton coach Taryn Burke. "I thought we did a pretty good job of controlling play most of the second half, but by the time we began to assert ourselves offensively, we had dug too big of a hole."Lau made it 3-0 just five minutes into the second half.Palmerton held the possession and field position edge the rest of the way, but it didn't keep Pen Argyl's Walsh from scoring on the counter attack with 13:25 to play to make it 4-0.The Bombers avoided the shutout when Kailyn Kolnik scored off an assist from Casi Papay with 9:29 remaining."We have an extremely young team," said Burke. "We have just two senior starters (leading scored Trisha Billig and Mercy Melo) and play a number of freshmen and sophomores, so hopefully we can build on what we accomplished this season and with how we finished today's game."What the Bombers accomplished this season was no small feat for a program that has struggled to find success for nearly three decades."This was the first time a Palmerton field hockey team qualified for Districts since 1989," said Burke, who is in her first year as head coach. "We set a goal of qualifying for districts before the season began."With the lack of success the program has had in recent years and with how young we were, I knew that wasn't going to be an easy goal to attain. But I can't say enough about how hard these girls have worked to make it a reality. I'm excited about the future of the program."REVERSAL ... Palmerton defeated Pen Argyl, 1-0, during the regular season.DISTRICT MEMORY … The last time Palmerton made the district playoffs, coach Burke was a senior member of the team. Her daughter, Sayler, is a sophomore on the current squad.BY THE NUMBERS … Both teams had eight shots on goal. Palmerton had a 15-5 advantage in corners.SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT … Palmerton finishes the season with an 8-10-1 record. Pen Argyl is now 11-9.UP NEXT …Pen Argyl will play Lehighton on Monday at a site and time to be announced.