Cox cruises to state final; Lakeland falls

VIRGINIA BEACH

One team goes into today's Group AAA state field hockey final with a chance to match a record in the national hierarchy.

The other will try to establish its own legacy within the state.

Taylor Rhea scored six goals Monday to power Cox in a 9-0 dismantling of South County in a Group AAA semifinal at the National Training Center.

"Today was one of the greatest games," Rhea said. "We came out pumped up and my teammates made me look good."

The three-time defending state champion Falcons (25-0) advance to today's 6 p.m. championship match to face fifth-year Mountain View, which dashed the prospect of an all-Eastern Region final with a 2-1 victory over Lakeland.

Cox has the chance to tie Wilmington Tower Hill of Delaware and Severna Park of Maryland by capturing a national-record 17th state title.

The Stallions (19-6) didn't look intimidated after the opening whistle and challenged for possession in midfield. But after a few Cox near-misses, Rhea smacked in the first of her four first-half goals less than 12 minutes in.

"They've won when they had to and scored goals when they had to," Falcons coach Julie Swain said. "They came out fired up and looked athletic, especially in those first 10 minutes.

"We looked a little nervous, but (my players) settled into a groove and started finding each other."

Meredith Corner and Cara Witte each added a goal in the first 30 minutes as Cox jumped out to a 6-0 lead at the break and kept applying pressure in the second half.

Witte banged in her second goal less than six minutes into the period and Rhea tallied her final two goals during a 33-second span with less than 13 minutes remaining.

South County finished with just one penalty corner but couldn't muster a shot on goal.

"They had the ability to respond," Swain said. "We couldn't let them back into the game and the entire team did that. They attacked the goal the entire 60 minutes."

For Rhea, who has signed with Wake Forest, and fellow seniors Liz Beckner, Kelsey Rosenmeier and Witte, it's a chance to cap their high-school careers without a state tournament loss.

"It feels amazing," Rhea said. "We've worked hard all year and I feel like we deserve it."

Shelby Milligan's goal with 55 seconds remaining gave Mountain View (19-4) a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Lakeland in a battle between two teams vying for their first state-final appearance.

"I think we started with more momentum at the beginning of the game and ended with less," Cavaliers coach Tara Worley said.

Kendall Combs had given Lakeland (20-3) a 1-0 lead with a chipped in goal off a cross from the right hand side by Brittany Milteer less than five minutes in. But the Wildcats then went on the offensive.

While Bailee Hubert and Heather Hartman were forcing Lakeland keeper Marissa Betkowski to make a number of acrobatic saves, the Cavaliers were having trouble stringing passes together to sustain an attack.

"I was pleased at halftime," Worley said. "I just said for our forwards to come back on defense, to work on getting (penalty) corners and one goal wasn't enough."

Hubert slid in the equalizing goal underneath Betkowski after driving toward the cage along the end line less than four minutes into the second half.

Five minutes later, a Mountain View defender's foot halted a sure goal for Taylor Young. But keeper Sabrina Hill dived to her right, and got a stick on Kelsey Smither's ensuing penalty stroke to keep the score tied at 1-1 - until that final-minute penalty corner when Kelsey Snyder rolled an injection pass to Milligan at the top of the circle.

Milligan settled the ball and blasted a chest-high winner past Betkowski.

"They did a good job of taking us out of our game," Worley said. "We allowed them to change our game from what got us here."

Darrell Cuenca, (757) 446-2366, darrell.cuenca@pilotonline.com