Field hockey: Lakeland, Cox reach state tourney

VIRGINIA BEACH

When the final whistle blew in Thursday’s first Eastern Region semifinal, Lakeland coach Tara Worley rushed onto the field and embraced her players.

After years of close calls, her team had clinched its first trip to the Group AAA state tournament.

“Words just don’t describe it,” Worley said. “We’ve waited a long time.”

Taylor Young and Kendell Combs each scored to fuel the 2-0 victory over Kecoughtan at the National Training Center.

The Cavaliers (19-1), the top seed from the Southeastern District, advanced to today’s 3 p.m. final against Beach District No. 1 seed Cox, an 8-0 winner over Gloucester. Both finalists advance to next week’s state tournament.

With three minutes to play before halftime of the first semifinal, Kelsey Smither blasted the ball after the injection pass and set-up straight at Kecoughtan goalie Kaitlyn Routten. The ball bounced out to Young, who swatted it in.

“That goal was crucial,” Worley said. “Momentum was back and forth and we were trying to take the air out of them. Both teams were playing with nerves – you can’t blame them, they’re kids. But we were able to relax and play more of our game.”

Lakeland kept up its pressure after the break, but was unable to capitalize on a pair of early penalty corners. That seemed to kick start the Warriors. Mariah Pabst remained in the Lakeland half as an outlet for long breakaways and forced keeper Marissa Betkowski to make a handful of sprawling saves.

“I’ve had people sit on me,” said Betkowski of the attacker deep in her territory. “It happens all the time.”

Combs knocked in an insurance goal with less than nine minutes to play off a feed from Young right in front of the cage.

“We can’t settle for one goal, so we still played determined,” Young said. “We worked the whole game and kept composure, and that second goal gave us a huge lift. Everyone’s spirit just shot up.”

Added Worley: “The feeling of that goal was better than at the end of the game It puts them in panic mode because its even harder to score two goals, and it gave us breathing room.”

In the second semifinal, Stephanie DeMasi had a hat trick as the three-time defending region champion Falcons (21-0) routed the Dukes (16-4-1).

Meredith Corner opened the scoring less than four minutes in.

“Our big goal was to score in the first five minutes and set the tone,” Corner said.

The Falcons led 5-0 and held a 14-1 advantage in shots and an 11-1 edge in penalty corners at halftime.

“We’re a very attack-minded team,” Corner said. “We didn’t let up at all. We kept working to try and not let them in the game.”

The team’s relentless attack kept the ball in the Dukes’ end the entire second half. Cox finished with 25 shots and 18 penalty corners.

“We’re trying hard to play on our side of the field and keep the ball,” DeMasi said. “We just keep pumping each other up for the entire 60 minutes.”

Eastern Region semifinals

Cox 8, Gloucester 0

G—Corner, Witte, Rhea, Rosenmeier, Roach, DeMasi 3,

Lakeland 2, Kecoughtan 0

G—Young, Combs.