KINTNERSVILLE - Jim Thorpe discovered what a difference a year can make.

Last season, it was soundly outplayed in a 4-0 loss to Palisades in a District 11 Class 2A semifinal round girls’ soccer game.

This season, the fifth-seeded Olympians fell just short in a hard-fought 1-0 loss to the top-seeded Pirates in a semifinal round rematch Wednesday at Walter T. Rohrer Stadium.

“It’s always disappointing (to lose), but we have come a long way,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Tom Condly. “Sometimes, it’s harder to take a 1-0 loss than a 4-0 defeat.

“We battled against a quality team. We started off pretty strong passing, and then they took over with their speed. They sent the long balls, and we had difficulty containing them.”

During the opening moments of the game, the Olympians (12 -8) were the aggressors as they managed to keep the pressure in the Palisades’ end. However, the Pirates (11-2-1) began to assert themselves and gained control when Paige Casterline tallied the game’s lone goal with a shot in front with 24:44 left before halftime.

“Offensively, we struggled with their height and speed on their back line,” said Condly. “We didn’t have a lot of sustained pressure.”

The Olympians did benefit from an outstanding performance from junior goalie Kate Bos, who kept her team in the game with numerous pivotal saves in the second half on her way to a 22-save performance.

“Kate played phenomenal,” said Condly. “She has been like that all season with her hands and technical ability.”

Jim Thorpe senior Heidi Washel saw the final step of a steady improvement over the past few years, notably from last season.

“We never wanted to give up during the season,” she said. “As the season went on, we just kept improving and achieved all the goals we strived for this season. Coming into this game, we knew it would be a battle, and we knew we had to keep pushing.

“This year, we were all a lot closer and bonded than we were last year. We all were practicing during the offseason and perfecting our touches and passing, so we were all more comfortable with each other.”

Fellow senior Nikki Ivan also witnessed overall growth from a year ago, and believed her team could have walked away with a victory over Palisades.

“We improved as a team, and we have grown closer as a team,” said Ivan. “We wanted to do better than we did last year. I think we held our own against them, but I think we could have played better.”

SIZE 12s ... Also for the second year in a row, the Olympians finished with 12 overall wins.

TWO IN TWO? ... Palisades will be gunning for its second district title against Allentown Central Catholic Saturday at Emmaus. The Pirates won their inaugural title in 2018 with a 1-0 victory over the same Vikings.

WELCOME BACK ... The Olympians should be back in the hunt next season, as they will lose only three seniors. Their current roster has a heavy dose of sophomores.