In a back-and-forth game dominated by defense, both Albemarle and Orange looked ready to finally break the scoreless tie late in the second half. After a slew of short corners failed on both sides and more than a handful of shots for either bounced wide of the cage, it was a fast break that proved the ultimate difference in the Conference 16 final. After Courtney Crowder put her team on the board with just under ten minutes to play, Orange came to life. Minutes later an insurance goal gave them a 2-0 lead and as such, the Conference 16 championship.
“We had so many opportunities to score and that’s what’s always been hard for us,” said Hornets coach Lauren Seal. “When you’re up 1-0 nothing in the back of your mind you’re hoping the game just gets over quick. You have to remember not to let them get the ball (in your end) to tie it up so having that security goal (at the end) was really nice.”
The Hornets fell in both regular season contests with the Patriots, but Thursday was even game with Orange. The Hornets saw five first half short corners prove fruitless with Albemarle’s defense answering the call on seven total in the game.
However, when Crowder broke free off a Holli Foster pass with just under ten minutes left in the game, Albemarle was unable to snuff her out. The forward finished and gave her team a huge spark that led to a dominant finish to the game.
“It took us a while to finally get to it but I just pushed it in there at the end, just looked towards the corner (of the cage),” Crowder said. “I was just really excited, that was my first goal of the season.”
After Crowder’s goal and Orange playing defensively minded, the Hornets took advantage of a broken play in front of the Albemarle cage and Gena Shifflett cleaned up a loose ball to make it 2-0.
Orange held on the rest of the way to wrap up the win and end the season for a young Albemarle team. The Patriots managed to outshoot the Hornets seven to five, but simply weren’t able to get past the Orange defense.
“I feel like our energy kind of comes and goes in spurts where sometimes we respond in a really aggressive way and sometimes we sit back and play like we’re freshmen and sophomores,” said Albemarle coach E.A. Jackson. “So there’s a bit of a learning curve and it was a big change for them coming up from JV last year and a big change in the intensity level. This year has been a really nice year for them to be exposed to that level of competition so that we can move forward and prepare for it next year.”
The Hornets (11-7-1) advance to the Region 5A North tournament for the second straight season.
