By Liz Keller/Scrimmageplay.com Contributor
ORANGE – It may not have been Orange County’s prettiest performance of the season, but it was enough.
The Hornets shook off a slow start and took care of business in its victory over Liberty-Bealeton on Tuesday afternoon.
Orange used a second-half surge to secure the 3-0 win and advanced to the Region II semifinals. The Hornets will travel to Fauquier, a 6-0 winner over Charlottesville, on Thursday.
Orange (14-3), which was coming off a thrilling overtime win over Western Albemarle for the Jefferson District championship, controlled the ball in the first half. But the Hornets were unable to convert on numerous opportunities, and the game was tied 0-0 at halftime.
“You’re not going to win ballgames at this time of the year without being able to capitalize on opportunities like that,” Orange coach Trish Grabeel said. “We gave [Liberty] hope going into the second half. And when you give a team hope, you spark a fire, and we can’t afford to do that.”
However, the Hornets thwarted the Eagles’ hope as they finally found the back of the cage with a Naomi Hynes goal at the 21:22 mark of the second half.
“We knew what we had to do in the second half,” Orange senior Carrie Jacobs said. “We knew if we didn’t step it up, they were going to come out and catch us off guard. We knew we were better than what we showed in the first half.”
Orange continued to pressure the visiting Eagles and reaped the rewards. Grace Newman tallied the second goal off an assist from Ellie Jeanes to give the Hornets all the momentum they needed.
Kara Carter added the team’s final goal on a nifty play with 10:07 remaining and the Orange defense preserved the shutout. The Hornets prevented Liberty (5-11) from getting many looks – in fact, the visitors were held to just one second-half shot.
But with its sights set on a third straight trip to the state tournament, Grabeel knows her team has some work to do.
“At this point, you can’t tarry around and we kinda did that. Hopefully Thursday we’ll be a little bit better prepared mentally and ready to play some ball,” said Grabeel, whose team advanced to the state quarterfinals last season. “We never [want to] just settle on just the district. It’s always one step at a time, one goal at a time. But the ultimate is getting to the state playoffs. With our effort today, we were very beatable, so I’m hoping we can turn it around in time in order to play Fauquier.”
Orange visits Fauquier at 4 p.m. Thursday in the Region II semifinals.
