After suffering an 11-0 loss in her first game as Faith Middle School girls soccer coach, Tammy Donahue shook hands with opposing coach Steven Lips after the game and heard something she didn’t expect to hear — or even think to be feasible.

She said Lips told her he would see her in the playoffs.

On Thursday, 23 days later, Faith was matched against Veterans Memorial Middle School in the first round of the Muscogee County School District soccer playoffs. Faith lost the game 3-0, but Donahue remembered Lips’ comment and how far her team came in a short period of time.

“I just thought, ‘Wow,’ and here we are,” Donahue said of the Blackmond Road game. “(Lips) said other teams had not been able to run them back to their goal like we had and that made a big difference.” Faith went on to win its next game 6-0 and finish with a 4-2 record.

Donahue said the pressure became a little too much for Faith in the game against Veterans Memorial. Leading 1-0 at halftime, Veterans Memorial scored two quick goals in the 33rd and 38th minutes, putting Faith’s hopes of reaching the semifinals out of reach.

“Once they started getting behind … they stopped doing what they knew they were supposed to do,” Donahue said.

Donahue said Faith had hoped to put at least one score on the board before time expired. However, forwards Georgia Stenberg and Kendall Seifert each missed two late opportunities. Donahue said she reminded her team after the game to be proud of making the playoffs in the team’s inaugural season.

Looking back on the season, she said things did not appear optimistic even after Faith’s two preseason games. They were shut out in both. By the time Faith played Blackmon Road, it had yet to score a goal.

“Watching them in our first preseason game, I was not certain we would ever make it to a playoff game,” Donahue said. “We had a girl who before this year had never played soccer. I honestly thought we had an average soccer team, just based on what we saw during tryouts. As we put the team together, they became a very strong team. I’m extremely proud of them.”