The Bay Rivers District made its presence felt during round one of the Region I field hockey tournament Wednesday night.
A quarterfinal double-header at Wanner Stadium saw the district’s top two seeds, Tabb and Bruton, win by a combined 14-0, while Grafton overcame a late deficit to beat James Monroe in thrilling OT fashion.
For Tabb and Grafton, last year’s Group AA state finalists, playing in the regional semifinals is an annual thing. In fact, both coaches would probably tell you state-tournament berths are expectations.
But for Bruton, which hosted the program’s first regional home game since the 1980s Wednesday, being one win away from punching the school’s first ticket to the state tournament in decades is still surreal.
[stextbox id=”news-sidebar” caption=”Region I Field Hockey” float=”true” align=”right” width=”250″ mleft=”1″ mright=”1″ mtop=”1″ mbottom=”1″]
Quarterfinal Results:
Tabb 7 Courtland 0
Bruton 7 King George 0
Grafton 4 James Monroe 3 (OT)
Chancellor 8 York 1
Thursday’s Semifinals:
Tabb vs. Grafton
Poquoson Middle, 6 p.m.
Chancellor vs. Bruton
Fredericksburg, 4:30 p.m.
[/stextbox]
“We’re exhilarated,” Bruton coach Joe Dougherty said after the Panthers’ 7-0 shutout of King George. “I expected to see continued improvement this year. But to be 17-2 and in the position we’re in right now… I don’t know. They’ve far exceeded my expectations for this year.”
Added Panthers’ senior Abby Cole, who broke the school record for career points this season, “I don’t think it’s hit us yet that we could be going to states. It’s been a much longer season than a lot of us are used to, but we all love field hockey. We’re all really excited.”
Wednesday’s results sets up a 4:30 p.m. semifinal between Bruton and Chancellor, which defeated York 8-1 in Wednesday’s other quarterfinal, in Fredericksburg, and a 6 p.m. showdown between Tabb and Grafton at Poquoson Middle School in the other semifinal on Thursday.
Both games will decide state-tournament berths for the winners, while the losers will meet in a third-place consolation game to decide the final berth to states on Friday.
Tigers Trounce Courtland
Practicing inside on a hardwood court isn’t exactly Tabb coach Wendy Wilson’s idea of quality preparation for a Region I field hockey game.
However, after the start of tournament was delayed two days – from Monday to Wednesday – in light of the recent inclement weather brought on by Hurricane Sandy, that’s precisely how the Tigers spent Tuesday’s practice due to wet conditions outside.
“Having those days off in a row kind of threw off our routine, so I was a little worried how we would come out today.”
The Tigers wiped away almost all of their coach’s concerns before many folks even took their seats.
Maddie Landers scored two goals in the first three minutes as Tabb ran away with an early 2-0 lead to win 7-0 in the regional quarterfinals Wednesday at Wanner Stadium. The Tigers’ home field at Tabb High was still drenched Wednesday evening, so the game was held at Wanner Stadium in Williamsburg.
“The girls responded well,” Wilson added. “I was pleased with our effort. I think getting the jitters out early helped.”
After Landers’ two early scores, Melissa Progar drilled home a shot from five yards out roughly 10 minutes later on an assist from Hayley Mills to put Tabb up 3-0. Aly Harmatz tacked on one more unassisted in the closing minutes of the half to give the Tigers a 4-0 cushion at the break.
It was much of the same during the second half as Courtland never put a shot on goal and rarely possessed the ball during the final 30 minutes.
A Betsy Wusk penalty stroke followed by Lauren Mitcham’s goal on an assist from Courtney King put Tabb ahead 6-0 in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Melissa Progar finished off a great sequence of transition passing by Kelsie Ames and Mitcham for the Tigers’ seventh and final goal in the 44th minute.
Bruton Rolls Past King George
For a team in the midst of arguably its most successful season in program history, 2-0 halftime leads don’t seem all that comfortable.
So the Panthers made sure not to leave any room for error in their Region I quarterfinal matchup against King George Wednesday, tacking on five goals in the second half to win 7-0, setting up a Thursday afternoon semifinal against Battlefield District champion Chancellor at 4:30 in Fredericksburg.
“After we led 2-0 at halftime, I told the girls, ‘OK, you’ve won game one. But you still have to win the second game,” Panthers’ coach Joe Dougherty said afterwards. “This is the playoffs, and [King George] is here for a reason. The girls came out confident and scored five goals, and we were able to put some reserves in and get some rest for tomorrow.”
Carley Allen led Bruton with two goals and three assists, however it was a total team effort as six different players scored on the night.
Kayla Copeman, Dasha Hill, Rachel Veneris, Abby Cole and Kassie Abbinanti also scored as the Panthers dominated possession throughout. Abbinanti also had two assists in the effort, and Summer Zacharias and Hannah Pauley each offered one.
Beaudoin, Maunz Lift Grafton Over Chancellor in OT
Grafton’s field hockey team made its second trip of the season to play James Monroe in Fredericksburg Wednesday night. Compared to a 3-1 season-opening loss back in late August, this time, the bus ride home was much sweeter.
The Clippers rallied for a season-saving 4-3 win in overtime Wednesday in the opening round of the Region I tournament.
With roughly two minutes left in the game and Grafton trailing 3-2, Caroline Beaudoin scored what her coach, Brooke Feiner, called the prettiest goal she’s seen all season after ripping a shot with the back-side of her stick into the back of the cage from just outside the top of the circle.
Less than two minutes into the extra period, Kaylee Maunz scored on a breakaway with Beaudoin to give the Clippers a dramatic 4-3 victory. For Maunz, it was her second game-winning goal in overtime in the last three games.
