By Drew Goodman / Scrimmageplaycva.com Contributor
After a few years of looking up at others teams at the top of the standings, the Albemarle field hockey program took a major step forward last fall by winning the Conference 16 title.
With the current conference alignment going away beginning next academic year, the Patriots entered the 2016 campaign looking to retire the league crown in their trophy case.
AHS took the first step in defending its crown on Monday night by dispatching district and conference rival Orange County 2-0 in the Conference 16 semi finals.
The Patriots (15-1) will host the conference championship clash on Wednesday night.
Albemarle asserted itself in Monday’s semifinal clash early, by firing nearly all of its 12 shots on goal, and attempting a whopping eight corners in the game’s first 30 minutes.
Though their percentage was not high, the Patriots made good on two of their eight first half corner attempts. After knocking on the door for much of the first five minutes, the home team finally cashed in off of a corner.
Following a well-placed pass from Madison Birckhead, senior Lauren Hughlett separated herself from the pack, and found the back of the net for Albemarle’s first goal of the contest.
The Patriots were relentlessly attacking the Orange net, making it a question of “when”, not “if” Albemarle was going to score, but Hughlett felt a sense of relief as she saw her attempt sail by the Hornet keeper.
“We just really wanted to win and move on in conferences, so we just hustled to every ball and we were trying to connect passes and play around the Orange defense,” said Hughlett of the early intensity. “I just had to get in front of the Orange player and hit it towards the goal. It actually went off of an Orange player’s foot, but it ended up going in.”
Less than two minutes later, the Patriots once again scored off of a corner.
Looking to double the AHS lead, sophomore Anna Murray got in on the action, while fighting through a crowd of orange and white jerseys.
Orange County registered just one corner attempt compared to Albemarle’s nine, but the Hornets were able to weather the storm towards the end of the first half.
Orange did a much better job of possessing the ball in the final 30 minutes, but the Hornets could not turn any of their chances on offense into goals.
Orange did not have much time to enjoy its lone corner of the contest, as Albemarle senior Jane Pinnata quickly recovered to thwart the Hornets’ attempt.
Though they were not able to crack the scoreboard, Orange County head coach Lauren Seal was proud of the way her team handled the initial offense barrage, and competed in the second half.
“Eight corners in one half is absurd, and we only got one in the second half… Albemarle did a great job both offensively and defensively, and for us every time that we got it down into the circle, the first thing we were going for was to pull a corner and get some type of offensive play in,” said Seal. “The girls pulled together positively to get their energy back, and they put it together in the second half and it helps to hold them to zero-zero in the second half.”
The Patriots, who have already clinched a berth in the regional tournament, will look for their third consecutive shutout and their fourth straight win on Wednesday night against Patrick Henry-Ashland in the Conference 16 title game. Orange will play Atlee Wednesday in a consolation game for the conference’s third region tournament berth.
