But that wasn’t the moment that stayed with me.
For a little while after the game, I sat quietly beside Mars captain Hailey Long on a bench near the field as the boys teams began warming up for their state quarterfinal matchup.
Wrapped around her hand was a bag of ice covering a broken index finger.
On her face was the look every competitor knows all too well.
We weren’t sitting there as reporter and athlete.
We weren’t sitting there as coach and player.
We were simply two fiercely competitive people sitting in silence, understanding the weight of what had just happened.
I didn’t interview her. It wasn’t the moment for questions.
Instead, I simply told her how proud I was of her.
We talked lacrosse.
We talked competition.=
Mostly, we just sat there.
Looking at Hailey, you could see everything at once. The disappointment. The frustration. The fire that competitors carry when they know they gave everything they had and still walked away short of the goal.
Because Hailey Long gave everything.
She played with a broken finger.
She played with grit.
She played with fight.
Most importantly, she played for the people standing beside her, for the logo on the front of her jersey and for the community that has watched this group grow together.
As I sat there, I found myself thinking about the conversations I’ve had over the past several weeks with the people who built Mars lacrosse.
The more people I talked to, the more one word kept coming up.
Culture.
When Mars Youth Lacrosse founder Vince Grieco helped launch the program in 2009, he wasn’t focused on championships.
He was focused on life lessons.
“I was a big believer that we should use sports as an opportunity to teach life lessons,” Grieco told me.
That philosophy became the foundation of a program that has grown from a small startup into one of Pennsylvania’s premier lacrosse communities.
Saturday reminded me that Mars lacrosse isn’t just one team. Earlier in the day, I watched a girls team deal with heartbreak. A few hours later, I watched the boys celebrate another step toward a state title. Different outcomes. Same culture.
You hear it in the coaches.
Before Saturday’s boys quarterfinal victory over Upper Dublin, assistant coach Matt Grus talked about teamwork, preparation and trusting one another.
After the game, he pointed to the defense, goalie David Renner and faceoff specialist Josh Wilburn as key reasons for the victory.
Assistant coach Stephen Latona talked about players embracing their roles, doing the little things and competing for every possession.
Head coach Bob Marcoux often speaks about culture.
Not rankings.
Not trophies.
Not individual statistics.
Culture.
You see it in the way Mars plays.
You see it in the way teammates celebrate each other’s success.
And you hear it in comments like the one senior Grant Weaver shared earlier this postseason.
“If you eat, we all eat.”
Four simple words.
That’s Mars lacrosse.
It’s David Renner making save after save and trusting the defense in front of him.
It’s Reed Fuller refusing to let his team fold when momentum had shifted the other way. Trailing Upper Dublin 5-2 in the third quarter, Fuller dodged through three defenders and forced his way to the front of the net for a goal that cut the lead to 5-3 and changed the momentum of the game.
“Not only did he talk the talk at halftime to the team, but he walked the walk,” head coach Bob Marcoux said. “That goal was a huge momentum changer for us. He wasn’t going to be denied.”
The momentum shift wasn’t the only example of Mars’ culture on display. Goalie David Renner anchored the defense against one of the state’s most athletic teams, while faceoff specialist Josh Wilburn dominated possession, winning 17 of 22 draws.
“He’s a machine and one of the hardest workers on our team,” assistant coach Stephen Latona said of Wilburn. “He just continues to get us the ball back repeatedly.”
It’s teammates responding to moments like that and believing they can win because someone beside them refuses to quit.
It’s players caring more about the name on the front of the jersey than the one on the back.
And it’s a captain sitting on a bench with a broken finger, devastated by a loss, yet already thinking about her teammates and the future of the program.
At one point, my eyes drifted toward the captain’s band wrapped around Hailey’s leg.
Truthfully, I didn’t need the band.
Leadership isn’t something you wear.
It’s something you show.
And Hailey Long showed everyone exactly what leadership looks like.
She will be one of the leaders Mars will look to as it pursues another state title next season.
As our conversation ended, I started walking back around the track toward the booth for the boys game when something stopped me.
I looked back and saw Hailey embracing her father.
That moment hit harder than I expected.
As a former coach and the father of a competitive athlete, including my daughter Kailey, I’ve seen both sides of sports. The victories are unforgettable, but so are the moments when an athlete gives everything and comes up short.
Sports have a funny way of doing that.
They create moments that exist for only seconds but stay with us forever.
They give us incredible highs and crushing lows.
They break hearts.
They build character.
Knowing Abby Latona and this coaching staff, I have absolutely no doubt what comes next.
This group will get back up.
And when they do, they’ll be even stronger.
The trophies are impressive.
The championships are impressive.
But after spending time around this program, I’ve come to believe the greatest accomplishment isn’t measured in wins.
It’s measured in people.
It’s measured in lessons.
It’s measured in moments like that one.
