Despite winning six county games and finishing no higher than ninth place in the past two seasons, there's a lot of optimism at Reservoir this fall.

More than halfway through the season, the Gators are unbeaten in six county games and are 7-1 overall under new head coach Josh Sullivan.

River Hill, the defending county champ, is also unbeaten.

"We realize we still have to play the top teams in the county so far -- River Hill, Wilde Lake and Marriotts Ridge," for example, Sullivan said. "We are excited about our start so far, but we are not getting big headed about anything. All we can do is worry about ourselves, and try to improve each day and each game."

Reservoir beat Howard, 3-0, and Atholton, 4-1, last week. Lindsey McKeown had a hat trick against Howard. Kelsey Reiff duplicated McKeown's feat with a hat trick of her own against Atholton.

"We probably played one of our most complete games of the year so far (against Atholton)," Sullivan said. "We have been gradually getting better each game and I think the team is really starting to play well in the formation and more importantly play to their strengths. Atholton was a good team with a lot of talent, and we really just came out and played extremely well against them in all aspects."

McKeown has eight goals, Sullivan said. "Her ability to pass the ball and set up her teammates is amazing. She makes everyone around her a better player. She has instincts on the field that aren't coachable."

Reiff leads the county in goals scored, with 11.

Sullivan said he is "very proud" of the team's defense. "I couldn't be happier with the core group of girls that we have back there. All season, we have emphasized communication as being the key, and they have done a wonderful job communicating and containing some attacks."

The Gators were rained out of their scheduled game with Wilde Lake during last week's tropical storm.

"We were really hoping for the game not to get canceled because it felt like we were really starting to get on a roll. But this gives everyone a chance to heal up and get healthy," Sullivan said. "We lost two of our starting midfielders before this week, and we handled it extremely well. They both should be back next week which helps our depth."

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