The No. 1 Garrison Forest field hockey team responded like champions after its first loss of the season, when it beat a determined No. 10 Archbishop Spalding team, 4-1, Wednesday. And Spalding, in defeat, also demonstrated its good character.

The Grizzlies felt the sting of its first defeat Monday in a 2-1 loss to No. 11 Fallston, but coach Traci Davis saw her precocious freshman Brooke Adler score three goals Wednesday and the rest of her team settle down after the upset loss.

"We talked about some things that had to improve," Davis said, declining to reveal most of them. "One thing was our passing. Fallston took us out of our game and out of our rhythm."

Against Spalding, Davis had her team return to basics: completing passes; keeping the ball low. "Making each other look good," she said. "And having fun."

Ah, yes. Fun. It's a game, after all. But the desire to win can sometime become as intense as it is on higher levels.

"Sometimes you forget to have fun," Davis said. "Against Spalding, everyone had fun."

You could see it in their faces -- even in the faces of the Spalding players, who laughed after hard hits, and got to celebrate a goal near the end of the 4-1 affair, demonstrating they would not give up.

And when it was all over, the sound of sportsmanship sounded like the buzz of happy bees, as the two teams walked past each other clasping hands and saying in repetitious unison, "Good game!', Good game!', "Good game!'