As Pelham field hockey captain Gina Guimond walked off the Portsmouth field, her head bowed in defeat, an NHIAA official approached and offered congratulations.

“But we lost,” replied Guimond.

“Yes, but I have to admit I never expected this type of performance from a 13th seed,” said the referee. “Well done.”

Suddenly smiling, Guimond reported the conversation to her coach, Linda Koehler.

“Of course,” said the Pelham mentor. “Look at what you girls just did. You had a great team scared out there.”

Indeed, the underdog Lady Pythons held fourth-seeded Portsmouth to one goal and had several opportunities to tie the contest before falling, 1-0.

While many other low seeds were thrashed by their opponents, Koehler said she’s proud to have coached a group of girls that simply refused to give up.

“My team is flippin’ awesome,” said Koehler. “They absolutely played their hearts out.”

Just reaching the playoffs was accomplishment enough. After all, in the midst of what appeared from the outside to be yet another throw-away season for the Pelham, Koehler knew her team was capable of more. Following the Lady Pythons’ second win of 2008, a 3-1 triumph at John Stark on Sept. 24, the mentor said her 2-5 team had the ability to reach the postseason.

Though the Class I tournament seemed like a lofty goal at the time, the John Stark victory began a 5-0-2 run that included ties against 9-3-1 St. Thomas Aquinas and 8-5-1 Oyster River.

“We had a couple games early that were ‘coulda’, shoulda’, woulda’,’ but didn’t,’ and that’s OK,” said Koehler. “They played well, brought themselves together as a team, stuck with it and made a really nice turnaround from last season.”

Learning how to win again, said Koehler, was the biggest key to the program’s progress.

“We were second to the bottom last year, and we came from 22nd to 13th,” she continued. “The biggest thing is the mindset, knowing that they can compete and they can win and they can also have fun along the way, which they did.”

Though Pelham loses nine seniors – Guimond, Chelsea I’Anson, Emily Koehler, Kellie Chadwick, Devon Lamoureux, Cassandra Costello, Courtney Perry, Laurie Costa and Hollyann DeCarteret – Koehler expects to feature 11 12th-graders next season.

“We’re bringing back a solid core with a little bit on every line, so I think they should continue to do well,” she said. “You’ll see them back in the tournament. These girls want it. They saw what the team did this year, and they want the same, if not better.”