Hat tricks by Slater, McCartney power NK to playoff victory

By Andre Jones | October 26, 2017 9:13 pm

New Kent’s Hannah Gilland (1) makes her way to the ball as she gets a convoy of help from teammates Storm Livesay (2), Peyton Slater (3), and Haylie Baynes (15).

Andre' Jones

New Kent’s Lady Trojans spent the first five minutes of the Oct. 26 regional playoff game feeling out the visiting Booker T. Washington Lady Bookers of Norfolk. But once the code was deciphered, the hosts put together a scoring barrage that overwhelmed the Lady Bookers.

Lady Trojans Peyton Slater and Marley McCartney each notched hat tricks as New Kent strolled to an 11-0 win in the 1A/2A/3A combined field hockey regional opening round.

Coming in as the sixth-seed of the 12-team tournament, New Kent pressured the eleventh-seed Lady Bookers from the start. Lady Trojan Maddy Heath scored off a missed penalty corner to put the hosts up to stay less than six minutes into the contest. Hannah Gilland’s assist to McCartney for her first goal put New Kent up 2-0. Within the next 12 minutes, New Kent racked up five more goals and closed the first half with a 9-0 advantage. McCartney scored both goals for the Lady Trojans in the second half to push the final margin to 11-0.

After the contest, New Kent head coach Matt Duckworth said his team’s focus was to control the pace of the game.

“We wanted to come out and play our hockey,” the victorious coach commented. “We wanted to play fast and spread them out.

“The thing about playoffs is that we didn’t know what they were capable of doing,” Duckworth added when asked about his team’s tentative play to begin the contest. “You never know when you face a new team and this was our first time facing Booker T. Washington,” he concluded.

New Kent will travel to Bay Rivers District Rival Poquoson on Monday for second round regional playoff action. (Oct. 30).