Now Western Albemarle is in control.
The Warriors’ field hockey team earned a 1-0 victory over Charlottesville to wrap up a sweep of the regular season series between the two top teams in the Jefferson District, likely earning at least a share of the regular season championship.
The Warriors’ Alex Brown punched the ball in as part of a scrum in front of the goal midway through the second half to give Western the advantage. From there, the Warriors held on, struggling to capitalize on a number of chances to put the game out of reach.
“We just didn’t finish, we didn’t close the door,” said Western coach Mia Fields. “We’re doing a lot of good work (though).”
Part of that was Charlottesville’s gutty defensive effort, as the Black Knights managed to keep coming up with stops despite being ravaged by injuries and illness.
“I consider this an improvement—I think last week we had half our team out,” said Charlottesville coach Lindsay Larson. “So to be hold them to nearly the last 15 minutes at 0-0 is impressive to me as injured and ill as we’ve been. I’m thinking come district tournament its going to be an even better game.”
The Warriors controlled much of the possession during the second half in particular.
“I think we possessed the ball a lot,” Fields said. “We had great opportunities to score. Tess (Lohr) sent three balls across that could’ve been goals. We’re going to get better.”
Maya Langman and the Western defense picked up another shutout victory in district play, their fourth-straight in district play since edging Charlottesville 2-1 back in September. The Warriors now control their own destiny for the rest of district play as the Black Knights are now 3-2 in JD play while the Warriors are 5-0 with just three games left.
