Jon Bebbington said he and his Rowland Hall teammates were confident going into their 2A soccer semifinal Friday against Waterford.

Then, the Winged Lions fell behind by two goals, ended up losing 2-1, and watched a marvelous season come to an unsatisfying end.

"We got down early, and I think we just lost confidence in the game," the junior midfielder said. "I think we might have gone in a little overconfident as well because we had beaten them so badly earlier in the season."

Twice before, Rowland Hall beat Waterford, the defending and eventual champions — once by a score of 7-0.

"Looking back, it's really, really disappointing because going into the game we thought we were confident that we were going to do well," Bebbington said.

This season marked a return to prominence for Rowland Hall, which won three straight titles from 2008 through 2010. The 2011 Winged Lions finished 9-5 and claimed a share of the Region 14 championship.

Mats Sanyer, one of just two Rowland Hall seniors, played on two of the championship teams and said he had looked forward to winning another title.

"I think we did everything we could, really," he said. "I honestly don't know what we could have done differently."

Sanyer added: "We were definitely looking ahead a little bit, everybody was excited for the next step. Kids were definitely confident that we could win."

Now, that confidence needs to carry over to next year. The Winged Lions will be without head coach Bobby Kennedy. Kennedy was hired eight years ago by athletic director Kendra Tomsi, but next year will move to the Rowland Hall-St. Mark's lower school to teach physical education.

"He's a great coach," Sanyer said, "just because he knows so much about the sport, he knows how to prepare teams really well for any situation."

Assistant coach Scott Langone will replace Kennedy.

"It's good for me," Kennedy said. "It's just a case of me wanting to work with younger kids in physical education, and a challenging byproduct of that is I won't be able to work with the [high school] kids after school."

It's unfortunate timing for Kennedy, who next year would have shepherded a team poised for even more success.

In addition to Sanyer, senior Hans Weiner is graduating. After that, though, it's all experience coming back for the Winged Lions, including five freshmen who played key roles this season.

"If you look at the team that's going to be there," Sanyer said, "they're all kids that have played soccer outside of high school, and the ones that haven't have all played enough at Rowland Hall. So the team is only going to get better."

Throughout the season, including in the playoffs, the team's youth was not a disadvantage. But Sanyer did wonder if, perhaps, not having much experience on the roster was a factor in Rowland Hall's loss to Waterford.

"This is just where having young players on the team comes in," he said. "Sometimes you don't understand you have to take it one game at a time, especially in the state tournament."

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Rowland Hall coach says goodbye

Coach Bobby Kennedy resigned after eight seasons with a 71-44-6 record.

The 2001 team finished 9-5 and tied for first in Region 14, but lost to eventual champion Waterford in the semifinals.

Next year's squad will return all but two players from this year's team.