SALEM – The smiles on the faces of the Bedford High School girls, even in defeat, were ear-to-ear. Talk about tremendous attitudes.

“Look, it took a great goal from them to beat us,” said junior forward Grace Rooney of Salem High’s overtime game-winner. “That was a great goal. We played hard all day. That was just a very good goal. We definitely would have been more disappointed if we didn’t earn this.”

Rooney and her teammates fell to 2-3 on the young season, but they truly believe Bedford field hockey is on the rise.

“We made the playoffs last year and lost in the first round,” said senior Corrie LaBelle. “I definitely think we’re going to be back. We lost some really good players. But we have a good team dynamic.”

A forward, who also plays lacrosse, Rooney netted her first two goals against Salem.

The girls on the Bulldogs field hockey team know they’re facing a challenge, even when the season starts.

Right now, and as it has been, girls soccer is the premier sport in the fall season.

“We’re at the bottom of the pool, we know that,” said Rooney. “We don’t get much turf (practice) time but that’s OK. They’re a great program. The kids start a lot earlier in soccer than they do in field hockey. We started in seventh grade.”

The Bulldog girls keep the rivalry friendly, as they are all in this together – Bedford High first.

“We fight with soccer a little bit,” said LaBelle. “There’s some friendly competition as to who’s in better shape. We know we are. And they are great, but who knows in a few years we might just get there.”

If attitudes like Rooney and LaBelle’s can rub off, Bedford could get there in field hockey sooner than later.

Goalie Rachael Noble is only a sophomore and she flashed some dazzling skills on Wednesday. In the overtime session alone, she made three spectacular saves to keep the sudden death session alive.

She’s not the only future star on the roster.

“We’ve got a bunch of excellent young players coming along,” said Rooney. “We have a great attitude and have a lot of fun together. On road trips, we jam to tunes before games and really get along great.”

What a novel approach. The team that gets along so well can only get better.

Things are looking up, even at just 2-3.