New Kent Charles City Chronicle

News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | March 29, 2024

NK tactic backfires, Warhill cruises to 6-0 win

By Alan Chamberlain | October 21, 2014 4:29 pm

Lady Trojan Aubrie Cook (left) drives the ball upfield after taking it away from Warhill's Cordy Branscome.

Alan Chamberlain photo

A New Kent Lady Trojan tactic designed to augment their offensive attack on the Warhill Lion goal backfired, leading to a series of Warhill scores and a 6-0 Lion field hockey win Monday night at New Kent.

The Lions scored their first two goals just seconds apart and repeated the feat several minutes later to build a comfortable 4-0 halftime advantage.

“We were moving the ball,” New Kent coach Matt Duckworth said, looking back at the game’s early stages.

“We tried to pressure their defense by pulling up our defenders for more support, but the defense was committed and left us wide open,” he said.

Warhill’s Haley Smith got behind New Kent defenders to put her team on top. Seconds later, she passed to teammate Jessica Cooke who drove another shot into the New Kent goal.

Duckworth immediately called time out to settle his team, and the break paid dividends over the next several minutes. Lady Trojan keeper Megan Bland stopped a high Warhill shot, but the Lions’ Hayley Schulz got her stick on the rebound to up the advantage to 3-0. Only a few seconds elapsed before the Lions were back in New Kent territory to score their fourth goal.

Seeking to get on the scoreboard just before halftime, the Lady Trojans unleashed a flurry of shots at the Lion goal, but all were blocked. A similar scenario for a brief moment in the second half yielded the same result.

A late game bid to avert a shutout just missed finding the Lion goal. Lady Trojan Clare Morris launched a long-range shot past the Lion defense toward teammate Maddie Collins stationed in front of the goal, but the ball slipped past Collins and out of bounds.

“We just didn’t get our sticks on the ball,” Duckworth said.

The Lady Trojans completed the regular season at 7-8 and enter 3A Conference 25 tournament play on Monday.