Headlines

Undefeated: Albemarle hockey edges Western to complete perfect regular season

On the road against a scrappy Western Albemarle field hockey team and missing three starting players, the stars were hardly aligned for Albemarle to complete their undefeated regular season on Thursday night. But, behind goals from Jordyn Solak and Maggie Lynn, the Patriots outlasted the Warriors 2-1 to stay perfect heading into postseason play next week. 

 

Albemarle struck first with just a couple of minutes left in the opening quarter. Abby Schiavone sent the ball into the circle, where Jordyn Solak collected it and put it in the back of the cage to give the Patriots the early lead. 

 

“Western has a great defense,” Solak said. “So we were really just focusing on ‘if you’re gonna take a shot, then it needed to be hard and toward the backboard.’ So I tried my best to do that and it got in.” 

 

Early in the second quarter, Solak had another chance at a goal right on the doorstep of Western’s cage but she couldn’t manage to get a good stick on it. 

 

With the score still 1-0 in favor of the Patriots, Western earned a penalty corner with just over six minutes remaining in the first half. Erica Repich sent the ball inside off the initial pass and Sophia Lanahan tipped it in to knot the game at one goal apiece. 

 

The entire game was played at a very fast-pace and with a high level of intensity. The energy on both sides peaked in the third quarter, as each team realized that the next team to score would likely have an overwhelming advantage for the rest of the game. Both the Patriots and the Warriors had opportunities to break the tie, but both defenses stood tall. 

 

With a few minutes left in the third quarter, Albemarle’s Maggie Lynn, who earlier had a shot go off the side of the cage, got an extra pass off of a penalty corner, shot faked, and expertly moved past her defender before shooting the ball into the back of the cage to put the Patriots back on top. 

 

Western could not get much going offensively for the rest of the game, as the Albemarle midfielders and defensive line prevented the Warriors from controlling the ball on that side of the field. By controlling possession and continuing to put pressure on Western, Albemarle was able to hang on for the 2-1 victory. 

 

“We didn’t have Liz [Yow] tonight which is a really big loss,” said Solak after the win. “She’s an incredible player and we greatly missed her. So everyone had to work that much harder and put that much more effort in. I’m really proud of our performance tonight.” 

 

Up next, Albemarle will host Mountain View on Tuesday in the region playoffs. 

 

“We feel great,” Solak said. “We’re super excited to have this momentum going into regional playoffs next week. Our region is not easy and we love having some tough competition especially against Western.” 

 

Comments

comments