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Albemarle hockey reshuffles, picks up win over Western

Photo by Bart Isley

Sometimes even when you’re up two goals, you’ve got to change things up. You’ve got to scramble things and try something different.

 

“We were having a hole somewhere in the midfield and so my assistant coach and I we reconstructed the lineup,” said Albemarle field hockey coach Brittany McElheny. “We probably moved everybody to a new position and said ‘make it work’.”

 

That reshuffling worked as Albemarle scored three goals and blew open a rivalry clash with Western Albemarle to win 5-1 over the Warriors.

 

It took the Patriots a little while to get going in the first half, with Morgan Rose finally breaking through with 11 minutes left before the break. Kat Bianchetto tacked on another goal to push the advantage to 2-0 shortly before halftime, giving Albemarle some momentum going into the break.

 

“That was our first true lead we’ve had all season and they kind of didn’t know what to do with it so it was kind of funny,” McElheny said. “That was kind of our gameplan to score early because we haven’t done that yet.”

 

The Patriots sputtered early in the second half, which eventually led to the scrambling of the lineup by the Albemarle coaching staff. The offense exploded from there, with Bianchetto, Rose and Savannah Grierson each scoring to push the lead to 5-0. Western eventually broke through with a goal by sophomore Isobel Williamson, but by then the Patriots were in control.

 

“They came out and scored three goals and they really responded to the changes at the timeout,” McElheny said. “I guess sometimes we’ve just got to change it up and scare them a little bit.”

 

Julia Douvas notched two assists for the Patriots while Mary Buetow had another. Morgan Coleman had one save in the cage for the Patriots, with Albemarle controlling possession for much of the contest.

 

Western keeper Addie Patterson kept the Warriors in it for long stretches, finishing with a whopping 19 saves.

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