Lady Trojans add to district goal total against Poquoson

Lady Trojan Alex Dore (right) battles Poquoson’s McKenzie Costa in front of the New Kent goal.

Alan Chamberlain photo

New Kent’s Lady Trojans may have lost a one-sided field hockey contest to Bay Rivers District foe Poquoson, but the hosts managed something they have done in only one previous district contest — they scored. Not once, but twice.

Poquoson walked away with an 8-2 win in the Oct. 3 contest, but Lady Trojan coach Matt Duckworth expressed pleasure with his team’s effort, especially after weathering a slow start.

“We came out flat, and by the time we realized it was game time, it had kind of snowballed on us,” he said.

“But then we tried to put pressure on them, and it was nice to get a few goals,” he said. “Those are only the second and third goals we’ve had against district competition.”

Poquoson opened the scoring at the 18-minute mark of the first half, and three minutes later, owned a 2-0 lead. A goal with less than two minutes left before halftime appeared to hand the visitors a shutout going into the break.

But with under a minute to play, the Lady Trojans applied pressure in front of the Islander goal. Islander keeper Christina Forst batted away a New Kent shot, but Lady Trojan Caitlin McCaughan hammered the rebound into the goal to cut the halftime deficit to 3-1.

Poquoson opened a 5-1 advantage after the break, but Rebecca Butkus-Newman pulled the hosts back within three, blasting a high shot beyond Forst’s reach for New Kent’s second goal.

New Kent got off only three shots on the night while Poquoson launched 20. New Kent keeper Becky Anderson registered 12 saves.