Walsh-Edwards said it wasn't that her team wasn't trying hard enough, but the level of attack simply needed to be stepped up.

"We're a brand-new team with new people in the mix," Walsh-Edwards said. "We lacked aggression. We needed to do things quicker. It is a speed game and we need to move fast. We played better against East Hampton and it carried over. We felt good about how we played. We carried that fire and aggression into the Hampton Bays game."

And the Blue Waves (3-4, 2-3 in Suffolk County Division III) came away with a 3-0 win against the Baymen. Brittney Baron scored twice, and Melissa Hale netted the other goal. Kate Luce made two saves for the shutout.

Against the Colonials on Friday in Riverhead, the Blue Waves dominated most of the game, yet couldn't score in regulation time. Neither did the Colonials, though, as Luce and Allison Doscinski, who shared time in goal, prevented Floyd from scoring. But 52 seconds into overtime, Quiera De Costa led the Riverhead charge down the field. She passed the ball to Laura Apicello, who hit Olesya Shayda with a perfect cross, and Shayda touched the ball into the net for the winning goal.

A huge cheer went up from the Riverhead sideline. Perhaps it was a sign of relief. Last season the Blue Waves lost six games in overtime.

"We were sloppy and we missed some opportunities, but we snapped our bad luck in overtime," Walsh-Edwards said. "Given what happened last year, we were extremely happy to get this win."

Riverhead continued to roll along on Saturday when Baron tallied her third goal of the season in the first half, and Justine Huysman netted a second-half goal for a 2-0 victory over the Centereach Cougars. Doscinski recorded six saves, and Luce added two more.

Going into the season, Walsh-Edwards knew her rebuilding team was in a rugged division and a bunch of teams would be battling for one of the final playoff spots. So, early on, she had her team concentrating on small goals, like playing with aggression and beating the opponent to the ball for 15 minutes at a time. The effort against East Hampton might have been a big stepping-stone for her team.

"I never questioned our work ethic," Walsh-Edwards said. "These girls want to win. Our goal is the playoffs. But we've got a new team out there. We are learning how to play together. It is happening slowly, but surely."

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