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Bulldog junior Molly Gift flicks a well-placed shot past the Knights' goalkeeper to put Westfield on the board with 2:04 left in the first half.
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By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Manager, Washington D.C.

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For a school open only eight years, historic firsts may not carry much meaning. But don't tell that to the Bulldogs, a field hockey team on the brink of greatness since their Northern Region championship run in 2006.

Westfield reached the Virginia AAA state semifinals for the first time in school history -- just three weeks removed from its first-ever Concorde District title -- with its 2-0 win over Central Region champion Thomas Dale on Thursday at the National Training Center in Virginia Beach.

"At one point in time on the sideline, I had such a big grin on my face that I almost had tears in my eyes," said an emotional Bulldog Coach Terri Towle. "This is a huge accomplishment for the program, for me and the girls. I'm just proud to be a part of it."

The Bulldogs peppered the Knight cage throughout the first half, but struggled to take the lead.

Junior forward Molly Gift had the best opportunity, sliding a wide-open shot attempt inches left of the frame of goal. But Gift secured her redemption less than 30 seconds later, slamming a shot past the Thomas Dale goalkeeper to give Westfield a 1-0 lead at the half.

"I was so happy because I didn't want to let my team down," she said. "I got another opportunity, I took it and found a way to get it in for the go-ahead goal that kept us up for the rest of the game."

The previously-unbeaten Knights (18-1) left the field with heavy hearts, knowing they left opportunities on the field.

But fortunately for Thomas Dale, it features the youngest unit in the eight-team state tournament field, including freshman starting goalkeeper Savannah Cummings, and promise to be a force in the coming seasons.

"I don't think this game proved what this team could do," Knight Coach Beth Jaeckle said. "I think the rest of the season, we did that ... we're losing five top-notch seniors, but we have a group of sophomores that are strong that were on JV and varsity."

Westfield (20-4) advances to face the most-storied field hockey team in the country, Frank W. Cox (21-2) at 1 p.m. on Friday.

To continue to re-write history, the Bulldogs may have to rip the pages from the Virginia High School Leauge record book and use them to dry off their gear. The Falcons have won a national-record 15 state titles, including seven in a row from 1989-95.

They won the state final last year, 6-0, over Stafford.

"I think we go celebrate for a while, go have a good dinner and focus on what we need to do tomorrow," Towle said. "We can't have any letdowns, any mental lapses and go play our best game for 60 minutes."

Added Ameera Ahmadieh, who scored the Bulldogs second goal: "We made history today. We might as well be able to do it tomorrow."


Westfield        1  1 -- 2
Thomas Dale  0  0 -- 0

Goals:
WF - Gift (18)
WF - Ahmadieh (32)

Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com