Grafton escapes New Kent with lone score in sudden death shootout

New Kent’s Meghan Fly makes a sprint down the sideline with the ball.

Robb Johnson photo

For 60 minutes, New Kent’s Lady Trojans and the visiting Grafton Lady Clippers played evenly in the Sept. 28 field hockey contest. But in the end, it was a goal by the visitors in a shootout that made the difference.

Grafton’s Tatum Humphries conversion in the fifth shootout was the difference maker in the 1-0 victory by the Lady Clippers over New Kent.

After a clean first half by both teams, the Lady Trojans found themselves on the defensive end more than what they needed to be. But that defense was a wall, with Brie Otey stopping penalty corners from Grafton, to the point where it lasted for the period of regulation and two overtimes.

Otey’s brick wall defense withstood the first four attempts from Grafton shooters. Meanwhile, New Kent’s offense also couldn’t budge Grafton’s goalie, keeping the scoreboard blank. It wasn’t until Humphries’ goal after a two-and-a-half-hour fight that proved to be the deciding factor in the game in the win by the visitors.

After the contest, New Kent Lady Trojans’ Head Coach Cristen Sickal had nothing but praise for her group, despite the tough loss.

“I could not be any prouder of this team,” she said. “We just played two hours of field hockey without a single sub, and everyone kept their spirits up.

“We kept pushing hard, even though the result wasn’t what we ultimately wanted,” Sickal concluded.

New Kent’s record falls to 6-5 on the year.