Part of my mentality certainly comes from my own team experience in high school.

We absolutely had a long-term goal of an undefeated season and a state championship, we even wrote “14-0” on the chalkboard in our locker room before the first game as a reminder for the whole season, but we still focused intensely on each game.

We didn’t end up going 14-0. We lost to a well-coached and more-talented team in the regular season. But even after a disappointing and frankly embarrassing loss, we still came back better from that and won the state championship (13-1).

In the 4 years I had any association with that program the varsity record was 52-2 with 3 state championships.
Preparing for every game and then going in believing you are going to win if you leave it 100% on the field is the way to go IMO. And knowing during a game that the goals you’ve worked so hard and so long on are on the line now, even if you’re behind to a “better” team, gives you additional motivation in the moment, in my experience.