VIRGINIA BEACH — Even though the conditions were cold and blustery at the USA Regional Training Center, Tuesday’s Class 5 Region A semifinals showcased a pair of white-hot, nail biting matchups.
Third-seeded Cox knocked off No. 2 seed Hickory 1-0, while No. 5 seed First Colonial upended top seed Great Bridge 2-1 to book an all-Beach District tilt for Thursday’s region championship. Both teams also qualified for the Virginia High School League state tournament.
“It wasn’t pretty, given the weather and everything,” Cox coach Taylor Rountree said. “We have a super young team — only have one senior. So this has really been just a growing year, and they had a goal.
We just punched our ticket to states — I couldn’t be more proud.”
About three minutes into the first quarter, Cox’s Mikaela Quinn was positioned perfectly on a penalty corner to poke the ball into the cage off Atalee Booth’s initial blast to push the Falcons (15-3) ahead 1-0.
“Both Atalee and Mikaela have really good hand-to-eye (coordination) and we practice penalty corners every day,” Rountree said.
Elyse Hinkel scored twice to lead the Patriots (12-6-1) in the night cap.
With four minutes remaining in the opening period, Hinkel fired home off a rebounded shot from a penalty corner set piece.
“Our big thing today was control the controlables,” Patriots coach Meghan Smart said. “You can’t control the weather or the refs, but you can control how hard you play.
So our three words for today were head, heart, and hustle.”
Following the halftime break, Hinkel added her second goal, also on a breakaway. Great Bridge keeper Lucy Domozick corralled the ball and pushed a pass right to Hinkel’s stick.
“It was a beautiful goal,” Smart said. “
It started with a hit in the back all the way up the field. It was a team goal and that’s really what we’ve been focusing on this season. Our game plan was to continue to build.”
Great Bridge cut the deficit to 2-1 less than five minutes into the fourth when Isabella Steckline knocked in a penalty corner pass from Olivia Young.
With less than seven minutes remaining, Steckline slung in a mother driving ball off a penalty corner, but Savoie came up with the save for the
Cox and First Colonial two longtime neighborhood rivals and frequent playoff adversaries, meet in Thursday’s region championship game at 5:30 p.m. at Green Run High.
“It’s the region finals — whoever the opponent is, we’re trying to win,” Smart said. “But it being Cox, it just makes it fun, right?“
It’s been a big rivalry and there’s a little bit extra pressure because of that.”