Another Early Exit

by Seneca Contomanolis
DigitalSports Richmond

VIRGINIA BEACH - There are a lot of similarities between this season and last season for the Thomas Dale and James River field hockey teams.

Both years the teams won their respective regular-season district titles, won their district tournaments and in the Central Region tournament the past two years the Knights defeated the Rapids in the championship match.

Unfortunately, this season ended the same way as last year too, in the first round of the state Group AAA tournament.

Thomas Dale struggled to get their offense going as the Knights fell to Mountain View 2-1 and James River played most of their game on the defensive in a 1-0 loss to Stafford Thursday.

"When you get this far in state competition you know everyone you play is going to be good," Thomas Dale senior goalie Miranda Lojek said. "It has to be a good game and our game was so close."

The Knights had trouble getting shots on goal in the first half of their match at the U.S. Field Hockey National Training Center. The Widcats' defense made sure it was hard for Loren Favale, Julie Robertson, Deanna Smith and Kati Crews to get free and create with the ball.

At the half Northwest Region runner-up Mountain View led in shots 7-1 but the score was still tied at zero thanks to a couple of nice saves by Lojek and a defense that wouldn't budge led by Kelsey Whittleton, Carrie Jaeckle and Madison Parrish.

"Mountain View was very physical and that was something we had not seen that much," Thomas Dale coach Beth Jaeckle said.

Whatever Mountain View coach Pattie Sullivan told her team at halftime must have been good because the Wildcats immediately began to capitalize on their chances in the second half.

Less then four minutes into the half Brittany Miner found the back of the cage for Mountain View off an assist from Amanda Babineau. Just two minutes later Babineau assisted another one of her teammates as Rachel Whitt put the Wildcats up 2-0.

"We weren't picking up people and we weren't following up on shots," Beth Jaeckle said.

Down two goals the Knights began to sense the urgency of the situation and started to put together some drives to the goal but was still unable to get on the scoreboard, even being denied on three straight corners at the 11 minute mark.

Finally, with only 4:46 remaining in the game sophomore Anna Rollins scored for Thomas Dale off of a corner but it proved to be to little to late as the Knights were unable to get the equalizer.

"Well it was a little disappointing we couldn't get more goals but we tried our hardest," Robertson said.

James River also lost by one goal but it certainly could have been far worse if the Rapids' defense had not buckled down.

Junior goalie Gracie Herbert was constantly under fire as Northwest Region champion Stafford posted 31 shots and had 21 corners for the game. Herbert and her defenders Ashley Capazolli, Lauren Traudt and Diana Chan would not crack though.

In the first half alone the rapids were out shot 17-1 with the Indians getting 10 corners to James River's zero. But Herbert accumulated 11 saves, benefited from a ball that went off the goal post and preserved a shutout into halftime.

"Well it was pretty constant back on our end so it was hard to keep working," Capazolli said. "We never got a break but I think we held pretty well for the amount of shots that they took."

The second half was more of the same for James River. Jenna Taylor, Hannah Schul and Evans Martin could not get anything working on offense and the ball seemed to always be on the Rapids' side of the field.

With 26:36 left in the second half Stafford finally broke the stalemate on a Kaitlyn Ripley goal that just got by Herbert. The Rapids continued to play hard but had few opportunities the rest of the way.

"The defense held that game at 1-0 for us," James River coach Slade Gormus said. "The defense did its part but they can't score goals for you.

"When you get this far you have to leave everything on the field and I don't know if we can say offensively we did that."

Mountain View will now face Frank W. Cox on Friday at 1 p.m. The Falcons topped Oakton 3-0 and have won 14 state championships. Princess Anne defeated W.T. Woodson 2-1 and will meet Stafford in the other semifinal at 3.

The matches were played on a turf field and not on grass like Thomas Dale and James River are accustomed to. The teams said they noticed a change in the way the matches were played.

"It's a different game," Robertson said. "It is a little bit different for the goalie but out on the field it is so much quicker."

Though neither team accomplished their ultimate goal both coaches were extremely proud of their teams. This was the final game for many on both sides as James River will be losing 10 seniors while Thomas Dale will lose five.

"How they ended this game so strong is actually how I will remember this season," Beth Jaeckle said. "They ended the season so strong and got us through the playoffs. Individuals kept stepping up.

Said Gormus: "They've been extremely a joy to work with the whole time and that's always the most important thing. To me the season always seems to go to fast."

Mountain View  0 2 - 2
Thomas Dale      0 1- 1
MV: Miner, Whitt
TD: Rollins
Saves: Smith (MV) 2, Lojek (TD) 4
Records: Mountain View (20-3); Thomas Dale (18-3)

James River  0 0 - 0
Stafford       0 1 - 1
S: Ripley
Saves: Herbert (JR) 17; Scott (S) 0
Records: James River (16-4-1); Stafford (16-7)