My mother coached my sister's team for several years. One year they missed going to World by one point to a team they had already beaten that year. The tough part was the winning team could have been penalized for "unsportsmanlike" behavior, but my mom and her co-coach, thinking it would not be necessary and not wanting to play that way, didn't pursue it. They were crushed when they didn't win.
"I am open, and I am willing,
For to be hopeless would seem so strange.
It dishonors those who go before us,
So lift me up to the light of change."
Holly Near