Western Albemarle field hockey was locked in Tuesday night.
The Warriors wanted to make sure they got a chance to hit the road.
“We’re really excited to go to the beach,” said Western’s Avery Powell.
That may sound like a vacation, but for Western it’ll be a business trip. The Warriors are headed to Virginia Beach for the VHSL Class 3 state semifinals after beating York 1-0 Tuesday.
Western edged out York in the state quarterfinals at home Tuesday thanks in large part to a goal just before halftime from Powell.
“My sister Skyler (Powell) crossed it over and then Reeve (Goldstein) hit it closer to the goal and I just was there,” Powell said.
From there, the Western defense, with sophomore Maizey McCarthy in goal, made sure that score stood up. McCarthy had five saves on the night and helped direct a defense that snuffed out chance after chance for York.
“Coming off our region championship loss (to Meridian) where we played a great game, we really came together and locked down for this game on defense,” McCarthy said. “It’s an awesome feeling, everyone put in 100 percent and that’s all we needed.”
Now Western is moving on to the state final four, accomplishing a goal that has been on their mind since last year’s 2-1 playoff loss to Chancellor.
“This has been our goal since we lost last year and we have a really good team chemistry this year which has a lot to do with it,” Powell said.
Western will square off with Tabb in the Class 3 state semifinals Friday at 2 p.m.
