Cox’s Alex Davidson was shell-shocked when the whistle blew on last year’s girls soccer 6A state championship game, finally ending the match after four overtimes.
Battlefield had just scored the winning goal with 1.7 seconds left off a scramble in front of the net after a corner kick. Davidson, Cox’s star forward, and her teammates were stunned.
“I didn’t really think it happened,” the senior recalled. “I was kind of astonished. ‘That was it?'”
Like that, the Falcons’ long quest for a state title fell short again at the end. Coach Michelle Clark’s crew had lost to Battlefield in the state semifinals in 2013 and 2014.
The loss in 2015 reached a new level of heartbreak.
It also set the tone for 2016:
“Just finish,” Davidson said.
The words have become the team’s motto this season. It is stitched into the Falcons’ warm-up shirts. The message is in their play.
Just finish.
At first, Cox had trouble this spring just starting. The team stumbled to an 0-4 start.
Those losses didn’t compare to the agony many of the players on the team have felt in years past, however. Half of the team’s roster from last season — 13 players — returned with deep playoff experience, and they didn’t let the early struggles rattle their championship aspirations.
Cox’s opening schedule also was among the toughest in Virginia Beach.
“We realized we had to come together as a group like we did last year,” senior captain Alex Brewer said. “We just started clicking and winning.”
The Falcons (9-4, 4-0 Coastal) began finishing matches. They’re currently on a Beach-best nine-game winning streak with notable wins over First Colonial, Grassfield, Landstown, Tallwood, Ocean Lakes and Princess Anne. None was more impressive than Cox’s 3-2 comeback victory Tuesday over the Patriots to hand First Colonial its first loss of the season.
In their first four games, the Falcons were outscored 10-4. They have pounded teams since by a combined score of 45-8.
Other teams knew Cox was coming. After his team knocked the Falcons to 0-4 in a game that didn’t count toward the conference standings, Kellam coach Mario Hurdle said of Cox: “Their record doesn’t reflect how good of a program they are. They’ll be there at the end.”
He was right.
“It just fueled the fire,” senior defender Chloe Obara said of the 0-4 start. “Because we know how well we can play when we’re working as a team. It’s starting to come together.”
Cox’s defense, anchored by Obara on the back-line and sophomore goalkeeper Maddie Arndt, has posted three shutouts in its last four games.
Alex Davidson, the team’s leading scorer last year, has eight goals and three assists. She has passed the torch to her younger sister, sophomore Ryanne, who leads the Falcons this season with 17 goals and five assists. The Davidson duo is one of the Beach’s top 1-2 scoring punches.
“I love playing with her,” Alex said. “She’s a work horse, a triple threat. Big, strong and she’s got skill. It’s that sisterly bond. I know where she’s going to be and what she’s going to do.”
Taegen Kim, the senior captain midfielder, said there’s no worry when either Davidson has the ball.
“We know they’re always going to do something,” Kim said. “We feel really confident up top. They never give up.”
Competing in arguably the toughest conference in the state, the Falcons still set the Coastal’s standard of success.
“You’re never in an underdog position,” Obara said. “You always feel the pressure of expectation that you’re supposed to win when every team brings their best against you. No game is an easy game. No team just lies down.”
Now, Cox’s senior-laden core hopes the strength and closeness they pulled from last year’s crushing loss will help them this June.
“We don’t want to get back there and have that feeling again,” Brewer said. “Because it’s terrible.”
“Every year we’ve gotten a little closer,” Alex said of the state championship. “We just want it so badly. When you think back on, you were this close to getting what you’ve wanted for three years. Now this is a year we figured out we have to put everything together every second for the entire 80 minutes.”
And just finish.
