Since falling to St. Stephen’s-St. Agnes, back on April 26, Woodberry Forest has been on an absolute roll, winning five straight. The Tigers kept it going Saturday, picking up a dominating 14-10 victory over St. Christopher’s to wrap up the regular season.
Woodberry’s offense, which has gradually come together as the season has worn on, looked crisp in the battle with the Saints, taking advantage of St. Christopher’s aggressive defensive approach.
“They slid quick on Carlson (Milikin) and Joe (Miller) all day and that left other guys open,” said Woodberry attackman Mark Monroe. “Wide open.”
The rest of the Tigers took advantage, with attackmen David Little and Monroe both notching hat tricks. Jay Mitchener was the earliest beneficiary of the quick slides by St. Chris, scoring two first half goals to help Woodberry jump to a 6-4 lead at the half.
“They were in a zone defense and it left our outside guys open and gave us a lot of opportunities,” Mitchener said. “We had a lot of good movement today and it opened up a lot of looks for us.”
Milikin and Miller made some sharp passes after drawing double teams as both notched two assists each. Miller managed to finish with a pair of goals, while Milikin notched one score. The most impressive goal for the Tigers came when Charlie Archer started a fastbreak from the defensive end. He quickly moved the ball to Monroe, who whipped the ball down to Little. Little made one last pass, connecting with Will Tucker who put the ball easily back into the net as St. Christopher’s keeper dove back across the crease after overplaying toward Little.
“Our team loves transition and our attack loves to run it,” Monroe said. “Every time we get a chance we’re going to go for it.”
Woodberry keeper Ben Pugh had a solid game, and at one point had helped the Tigers build a 14-7 lead with several point-blank stops. The Tigers did seem to have a bit of a letdown after taking that commanding advantage as St. Christopher’s strung together three goals and nearly got back into the contest. But a couple of faceoff wins spearheaded by senior Adam Silva helped Woodberry ice the game.
Woodberry will likely hold onto the fourth seed in the VISAA tournament, giving the Tigers a home game in the quarterfinals Tuesday likely at 4 p.m.. It was unclear Saturday who Woodberry will host.
