by Chip Carter
Mills Godwin Correspondent
The homestanding Cosby girls soccer team put together a complete performance combining spectacular offense with solid defense Tuesday night to dominate and defeat Ocean Lakes 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the Group AAA state tournament.
Cosby’s offensive onslaught began with its first touch as Central Region player of the year Becca Wann put the ball in scoring position time after time.
With less than three minutes gone in the half, Wann collected a ball at midfield and nicely fed speedy Cosby sophomore forward Courtney Hook who did the rest, blazing ahead of the trailing defender and sliding the ball past Ocean Lakes keeper Codi Massey for a quick 1-0 lead.
Wann and fellow midfielder junior Kelsey Conyers dominated possession through most of the first half and provided the Titans with consistent scoring chances.
Ocean Lakes’ best chance came with about 20 minutes to play in the half as skilled and dangerous senior forward Kayla White made two impressive one-on-one moves to elude defenders and then unloaded a laser past charging Titan keeper Nikki Pond.
The shot hit the right post and rebounded away. That proved to be the Dolphins’ last real threat as the Cosby defense cleared the ball or connected with their midfielders for the rest of the game.
Cosby’s third goal came at the 34:00 in the second half as Hook chased down a long ball and dropped a pass back to onrushing outside mid freshman Tessa Broadwater who deposited her shot into the upper ninety from the left corner of the eighteen.
First-year Cosby coach Roger Lattimer soon began to substitute liberally and many of the Titan starters rested for the last 20 minutes.
Asked about his game strategy, Lattimer said, “We talked about a few things, but we do what we do. They have to beat us. Our edge is all our weapons.”
Cosby advances to the semifinals and will face the Northwest champion Loudoun Valley Friday at Westfield High School in Chantilly at 11 a.m. The game time is early to accommodate Cosby’s graduation ceremony.
CHIP’S CHATTER
* Central Region teams have advanced to the finals only twice in state history – last year with Mills Godwin and several years ago with Clover Hill.
* No Central Region team has ever won the state championship as Northern Virginia teams with larger schools in a soccer hotbed have dominated.
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