Tompkins answered every punch thrown at them for 78 minutes.

A young Falcons team went step for step with Stratford on Thursday, matching the District 17-6A champions step for step all night.

Tompkins fought for 80 minutes, but fell just short of keeping their season going, falling 2-1 to the Spartans in the area round to end the Falcons season despite a very strong effort.

“These girls played one of the best games they played all year,” said Tompkins head coach Jarrett Shipman. “The effort they put in was phenomenal and when things didn’t go there way or something happened, they kept fighting and showed the type of team we are. We have a saying, ‘tough Falcons win.’ We may night have won tonight but they did everything I could have asked and I’m so proud of the effort.”

Tompkins struggled to get into the game offensively in the first half, but the Falcons defense held Stratford off the board and got to halftime with it tied at zero. One it got there, the Falcons made a change in formation, changing to a back three and going from a flat midfield to a diamond. It paid dividends and got Tompkins back into the match and the second half was back and forth.

“We didn’t feel like we were winning in the midfield and we knew we had to change something,” Shipman said. “As soon as we did that, it flipped the field for a little bit. Doing that we shifted to three in the back and that’s not an easy thing, but out defense played their butts off tonight and doing that allowed us to do more in midfield.”

Both Stratford and Tompkins had chances and the deadlock was broken in the 70^th minute when Stratford’s Alison Goodwin received a low cross at the top of the 18-yard box and turned, shot and put the ball into the lower right hand corner of the net, giving the Spartans the lead.

Tompkins had an answer almost immediately. The Falcons earned a free kick from 40-yards out and Audrina Johnson stepped up to the ball, struck a beautiful free kick and put it perfectly over the keeper and into the back of the net. Stratford attacked relentlessly in the final minutes after that and eventually Stratford found its way through the Falcoons backline in the 78^th minute, as Mary Paul dribbled past a defender, into the box and slotted home the winning goal with two minutes remaining.

“They showed a lot of grit tonight and did everything we could have asked,” Shipman said. “Our team goal this year was simply just to work hard and support our teammates, that’s all we talked about coming into this season. They did both of those things and played so well tonight.”

Eight of the 11 starters in the game were underclassman and the Falcons will bring back a plethora of talent next season. But the impact of tis years senior class was a big reason for this years success.

“The futures very bright and these younger girls are maturing every single day,” Shipman said. “We had some great seniors and they led the way but these young girls were the core of everything. They’re going to keep growing and we’re excited for that, the future is very bright and we are so thankful for  everything from this year’s seniors as well.”