By Bart Isley
The old coach’s adage is that it’s tough to beat a team three times in a year.
Try four.
The Region II tournament essentially pits Jefferson District foes against each other again because of the lack of other established or powerful hockey programs. So even though Western Albemarle knocked off Orange twice in the regular season and once in the Jefferson championship game, to earn a bye into the state semifinals, Western faced the pesky, resilient Hornets again with a bye to the state semifinals on the line Saturday night.
Western got the job done again with a 2-1 victory, but it took overtime, a save on a penalty stroke and a solid goal to pull off the feat.
With the score tied 1-1 at the end of regulation, Orange took control by drawing a short corner with 11 minutes left in the period. Less than a minute later, the Hornets’ Olivia Newman drew a penalty stroke, but Lindsey Gibson came up with an incredible save on a well-placed shot.
“It was an outstanding save—I always think a stroke should be a goal so when we stop one that’s just bonus to the world,” said Western coach Mia Fields. “That just ignites everyone to say we have new life and we can go.”
On the ensuing Western possession, the Warriors attacked. With Jordan Haws and L.P. Desch out front, a pack of Western players moved like a herd into Orange’s territory and drove on the cage. Desch found Haws in the charge and Haws found the goal to give Western the victory.
“Lindsey came up big,” Haws said. “From that moment we tried to take our momentum all the way down the field instead of just having the typical lines, we tried to have all seven of us go and that’s definitely what we did. We just focused on going as a whole team.”
Sophie Jensen tallied the first goal for Western that evened the game at 1-1 after Lauren Seal gave Orange an early lead. Neither team shot much in the contest where Gibson had just two saves, almost surely a product of the fact that both teams, after three previous meetings, know how to counter each other’s attacks. That usually means a great deal of midfield play.
“Our kids just never give up — we got the early goal but we didn’t hesitate, we didn’t hang back,” said Orange coach Tricia Grabeel. “It’s always one of those dog-eat-dog games here, but we had an opportunity.”
Both squads will play in the state tournament, with Orange playing in the quarterfinals Tuesday and Western headed to the semifinals Friday, both in Virginia Beach.
