Standing on the sideline, it was all too clear that it wasn’t a great night for soccer in Art Hass Stadium Tuesday night.

Senior forward Chloe Sheehan was comparing her uniform to a freezing cold body suit before checking into the game in the midst of pouring rain in the second half and senior keeper Cassity Nangle referred to her gloves as aquariums as she dumped the water from them onto the turf after the Packers beat Pine Island-Zumbrota-Mazeppa 3-0 to keep their season alive.

The conditions were far from ideal in that contest, but the Packers’ effort was right on point. Austin has struggled with turning defense into offense all season long, but the Packers were able to turn the tide in the worst rainstorm I’ve seen this fall. Austin was aggressive on offensive and disciplined on defense.

The Packers didn’t slow down either. Despite taking a 2-0 lead into halftime, Austin continued to attack, keeping PIZM on the defensive end of the field throughout the night.

The effort was commendable for a team that hadn’t had a lot of regular season success and the Packers will hope it turns into momentum as they head to Stewartville for another Section 1A Tournament game at 7 p.m. on Thursday.