Twice things got tight, and at key intervals in the game. The first and third quarter Woodberry Forest manhandled Flint Hill behind efficient shooting and quality possessions. But in the latter halves of the second and fourth quarters, the Tigers found themselves in a fight with the Huskies. Much to Woodberry coach Brian Hemming’s delight, his team wasn’t interested in buckling as the Tigers finished strong to set up a markee battle with Norfolk Academy after an 11-7 win over Flint Hill.
“Anytime we got an opportunity, I thought we capitalized with a good look offensively,” said Tigers coach Brian Hemming. “To credit Flint Hill, for stretches of the game, we didn’t see the ball. I’m excited because I thought we dealt with that well. We responded well and then executed.”
After rolling to a 4-0 start in the first quarter, Woodberry saw Flint Hill race back to make it a contest late in the second quarter thanks to three unanswered goals. However, a last minute possession before the half off a penalty allowed the Tigers to go into the break up by two thanks to a Carlson Milikin goal from the top left side outside the defensive front on a pass from Sam Russell.
“When the (midfielders) got the ball over the field, the game changes,” said Tigers attacker Will Tucker. “We feel like whenever we the ball and a chance to score, we put on the doorstep or score.”
Woodberry cashed in during the third quarter behind its high powered offense by scoring four of the next five goals to make it 9-4 heading into the fourth. From there, the Huskies made it interesting by scoring three straight goals, two of them off of penalty situations to make it 9-7 with 5:20 to go.
“Penalties are going to be called and you just have to be in a situation where guys are excited to respond to the challenge,” Hemming said. “I thought we played well with man-down situations. The last thing you want is a team to freak out when they face adversity. These guys are pretty resilient.”
The Tigers hunkered down to close out the game though. With a 2-goal lead Woodberry choose to make it a 3-goal game rather than work on the clock with 2:40 remaining on a breakway finish fromDavid Little. The home team stayed on the hunt. The Tigers tacked on another late fourth quarter goal from Tucker to make it 11-7 and had little trouble keeping Flint Hill at bay to wrap up the win.
Tiger goalkeeper Ben Pugh came up with an impressive 19 saves on the evening. Tucker and Little had four and three goals respectively. Tucker also added a trio of assists.
“We had trouble finishing in front of the net before this season but we’ve really worked on that,” Tucker said.
Woodberry (7-1) hosts Norfolk Academy in a top-flight contest on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
