New Kent Charles City Chronicle

News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | March 28, 2024

Lady Trojans overwhelm Northumberland in opener

By Robb Johnson | August 22, 2017 11:16 pm

New Kent’s Maddy Heath (8) battles Northumberland’s Natalie Webb in front of Lady Indian goalie Jenna Jett (1) for possession of the ball.

Andre' Jones photo

New Kent’s Lady Trojans started their 2017 field hockey season with a commanding 4-1 win over the visiting Northumberland Lady Indians.

The Lady Trojans wasted little time, coming out and establishing what they wanted to do in the contest. Peyton Slater scored the first goal of the season eight minutes into the contest.

Fast play and constant New Kent pressure on defense took advantage of Northumberland’s lethargic play. The intensity resulted in a goal by Marley McCartney to up the advantage to 2-0 heading into the halftime break.

Despite faults, New Kent continued to apply pressure, setting up Abbie Clarke with a score and a 3-0 lead. Northumberland countered with a Brianna Davis goal with nine minutes remaining in the contest, but New Kent extinguished that momentum a minute later as McCartney netted goal number two on the night to provide the final margin.

After the contest, Lady Trojan head coach Matt Duckworth applauded the effort, but talked about missing opportunities to score.

“We have to clean some things up and we can’t leave points on the field,” he said, pointing to an 0-8 performance on penalty corners. “We came out nervous and we seemed to settle down and play loose as the contest went on.

“We always have to play like we are behind, like the score is 0-0,” Duckworth added. “We have to maintain our play throughout the game.”

New Kent improves its record to 1-0.