By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Manager, Washington D.C.
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With under six minutes remaining and the scored tied, an errant South County swing struck Lake Braddock senior captain Annie Stephens square in the mouth.
Four minutes later, the Bruins’ leading scorer provided her own knockout punch.
A long shot by Stephens ricocheted over Stallion junior goalkeeper Kirsten Olson for the game-winning goal with 2 minutes, 36 seconds left as still-unbeaten Lake Braddock topped South County, 3-2, on the road on Tuesday.
“Honestly, I feel like this one was of our biggest games,” said Stephens, who scored twice in the win and has a dozen goals on the season. “Sometimes you do really want to react badly [when you get hit]. ‘O’ really makes us work on our sportsmanship … I used my getting hurt on the field to go score that second goal.”
Added 18th-year Lake Braddock Coach Diane Miller: “Annie hates to lose. She’s been on this team since her sophomore year and she hates to lose. She has played consistently well every single game. … She just goes all over the field because she doesn’t want to lose.”
With the win, Lake Braddock improves to 15-0, the best record in the Northern Region.
But regular-season success is nothing new to the Bruins. Lake Braddock fared 20-2 last season, including a 16-game winning streak, during which the Bruins outscored their opponents 48-2.
“There are five players that have been on varsity for three years,” said Miller, who became the 37th coach ever to record 400 career wins on September 20. “They just want to win. They want to go as far as they can. We’ve been stopped in the regional quarterfinals their first two years on varsity.
“They’re just determined to win.”
That determination was tested just after half time.
Lake Braddock closed the first half with consecutive goals by sophomore forward Brittany Hopkins and Stephens to take a 2-0 advantage.
However, Stallion junior Megan Wears immediately tied the game, depositing two goals into the Bruin cage before the 22-minute mark of the second period.
South County, whose only other two losses are to Concorde-favorite Westfield, had a nine-game winning streak snapped Tuesday night.
“I’m so proud of how we played, they really stepped up to the challenge,” said Stallion Coach Leah Conte, who has developed South County (12-3) into a field hockey power in four short seasons. “We had a great week of practice, we came off a big win over Hayfield on Friday and the girls were ready. Since the school opened, we haven’t beaten Lake Braddock.
“I think we proved tonight that can beat a great team like Lake Braddock.”
But Lake Braddock, through playoff intensity — and temperature — prevailed, dodging another bullet for its fourth one-goal win in the last seven games.
The Bruins have won 31 their past 32 games overall.
“The pressure is getting to be more and more for our girls and it’s
getting harder and harder for them,” said Miller, whose team wraps up the
regular-season next week against West Potomac and Lee. “They know a lot
of people want to beat them. And I told them if they don’t play up to
that level every game, someone is going to come in here and do it.”
And beating the Stallions — in regulation — helped the Bruins in more than just the Patriot District standings.
“[I was thinking,] ‘Thank God we don’t have to go into overtime,'” said Stephens, ensconced in a beach towel to keep warm. “I was so tired and I have so much homework.”
Joked Miller: “I’m getting old. I’m 53 years old, I’m getting too old for this. My heart can’t take it. If we had gone into overtime, I’d have been laying on the ground.”
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
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