At one point, Albemarle coach E.A. Jackson, stuck on crutches after a broken leg suffered during a recreational soccer game, clambered over to her team and excitedly shouted “we’re really testing your fitness tonight girls!”
That’s exactly what Jackson and Western Albemarle coach Mia Fields were doing Thursday evening — providing a significant test for their players in a scrimmage that felt like a game, but had an extra 20-minute period of play (which prompted Jackson’s comments) and a pair of short overtime periods. It’s a test both teams will need, for very different reasons.
Albemarle is going to leap into Commonwealth District play next Tuesday, so the Patriots needed the challenge because the Commonwealth is a deep, grind of a district. The schedule the Patriots involves a lot of travel and several rock solid opponents, including Group AAA runner-up Mountain View.
“There are no easy teams in the district and when you play a team like Western that’s got some phenomenal players on it — they’ve just got a great program — it’s a really nice barometer to see how our girls are going to fare in our district,” Jackson said.
Colonial Forge serves as next week’s opener for Albemarle. The Patriots will enjoy the luxury of leaning on Becky Johnson, who also found out Thursday she’d been accepted into Davidson College near Charlotte, N.C., in those Commonwealth battles. Johnson is a seasoned forward who’s work on the year-round hockey circuit helped land her the spot on Davidson’s roster. Davison plays in the NorPac field hockey conference and the 2011 schedule includes games against ACC powerhouses like Wake Forest and North Carolina. Johnson’s sister, Cate Johnson, joined William and Mary’s roster this fall after her distinguished stint at goalie for Albemarle.
Johnson helped power an offense that scored more goals in the scrimmage, according to Jackson, than they did in the final nine games of the 2010 season, so perhaps a more high-octane offense will emerge for the Patriots.
Defensively, Alana Meadows, whose play stood out Thursday night, will anchor the Patriots while Paige Northup will provide consistency in the midfield.
Western needed the scrimmage because the Warriors are facing one of the most unique schedules in any sport in Central Virginia. The Warriors have added a very ambitious four-game tournament to the schedule in the second week of September in Virginia Beach. After facing Covenant and standout Taylor Brown in a scrimmage Monday at home, Western won’t take the field for almost three full weeks according to the schedule currently in place. Then on September 9, Western will face Group AAA powers Robinson, Kempsville and Lakeland High and a fourth opponent. Lakeland beat Albemarle’s district foe Mountain View in the Group AAA title game.
“We have kind of a weird season,” said Western coach Mia Fields. “I only have three seniors on my team, but it’s nice to see them as a unit and working together. (Plus), we’ve seen a lot of things we can work on after this scrimmage.”
The Warriors will then jump back into regular season play on September 16 if the schedule holds out, but it may be pushed back to around September 22, which would create a pair of particularly long layoffs for Western. Obviously the top-tier competition and tournament experience will be a big boost for Western come playoff time, but it creates the unique scheduling situation because of game number limits from the VHSL.
Olivia Hajek, a junior standout, will handle center midfielder duties for the Warriors during that unique schedule. Hajek has emerged as one of the top players in the area, scoring 25 goals in 2010. She had an incredible goal from just outside the circle wiped out during the scrimmage because a teammate or opponent didn’t touch it on the path to the cage. The Warriors also have senior Moira Wright back among a number of other 2010 all-Jefferson District honorees like Tess Lohr and Jessie Powell. They were, however, without starting keeper Maya Langaman against the Patriots.
