This season when high school field hockey games are decided in overtime, they’ll be decided in a completely new format that includes a new 1v1 format after a period of 7v7 play. The 1v1s aren’t penalty strokes at all. More like timed drills pitting both teams’ keepers against five shooters who can finish off a rebound if they miss their first shot as long as the ball doesn’t go out of bounds or time runs out.
Covenant and Western Albemarle field hockey got a first hand look at the new format Thursday night when the two schools played to a scoreless tie after regulation and 7v7. Covenant came up big in the 1v1 session, with first-year goalie Santia McLaughlin coming up with a monster stop on Western’s final attempt to seal the victory.
“She has continued to just blow all our expectations away,” said Covenant coach Annie Gumbs. “She was a soccer player and a converted goalkeeper and she’s just been incredible. She’s extremely quick and just very intense.”
It was a solid win for the Eagles, who are taking a tour of the four public schools in Albemarle County having scrimmaged Monticello early this week before taking on the Warriors Thursday and Albemarle and Charlottesville next week. Playing a close, hard-fought game like the one that they ran into with Western is a critical for Covenant as they look to get in the mix for the state playoffs.
“It was just a lot of fun to watch those girls work that hard,” Gumbs said. “What made that game so great was Western. It was a high level but they were clean and they had good sportsmanship. I think that was awesome for our girls to play against a team like that and then try and step it up and try to match their level.”
After Covenant took a 3-2 lead in the 1v1 battles, Western keeper Genevieve Repich kept the Warriors alive with a big save on Covenant’s final attempt to score. That gave Western a chance, but McLaughlin’s stop, her ninth of the night, secured the win and set off a celebration by the Eagles.
For Western’s part, the Warriors took a second straight loss against a strong opponent after falling 1-0 to James Monroe earlier this week, but they learned a lot by playing in overtime.
“Its a new format, we’ve never seen that,” said Western coach Milo Oakland. “Our goalie had never seen that before. I think that’s going to be a great experience for us to have the experience, to get some of the nerves down. You’ve got to learn to block it all out.”
