You had to feel good for the Norwich Free Academy girls lacrosse team on Tuesday.
The young Wildcats were not exactly given much of a chance against the Stonington Bears in their Eastern Connecticut Conference semifinal in Stonington.
The Bears had already beaten NFA twice, 13-7 and 12-6, and even coach Eric Page knew the task in front of his team was extremely daunting.
Still, when the final horn blew it was NFA that had won the day as they nipped Stonington in overtime 7-6. A celebration worthy of a state championship followed with no one happier that goalie Jessi Owen.
"I think the tournament might be bigger," Owen told me when asked to compare the regular season championship (won by East Lyme) to an ECC tournament championship.
"We've won this five times in a row so this tournament is definitely bigger. We didn't win the conference but we want to win this tournament and we're not going down easy," she added.
That was pretty evident on Tuesday but the tough task lies ahead as NFA tackles East Lyme on Friday on the Vikings home field at 5 p.m.