ASHBURN — Gloucester defender Ellary Miller scored with 23 seconds to go in regulation to lift the Dukes over Loudoun Valley 2-1 in the VHSL Class 4 field hockey state championship
game Saturday.
Overtime appeared imminent as both schools were deadlocked at one goal apiece with time
nearing expiration in the fourth period.
Loudoun Valley was given a final chance to tie the game as the Vikings were awarded a penalty
corner with no time left on the clock. But it was Miller’s goal and the Dukes’ defense on that final play that ultimately sealed the game for Gloucester, with the Vikings coming up short on their last attempt.
With the win, not only did Gloucester knock off the back-to-back defending champions in Loudoun Valley, but also avenged its loss against the Vikings from two years ago when the Dukes lost to them in the 2023 state championship game.
“I think we just wanted the win (at) the end of the day, “ Miller said, “We’ve played this team two other years in a row and we’ve lost to them every other time, and so just wanted that one last
win.”
After a scoreless first half, Loudoun Valley got to the scoreboard first, taking a 1-0 lead with under five minutes to play in the third period. Just when momentum had shifted the Vikings’ way, however, Aaliyah Mattocks scored Gloucester’s first goal and tied the game at 1 with 27
seconds remaining in the period.
“We went back-and-forth, toe-to-toe,” Gloucester head coach Joe Dougherty said. “(We) missed
some opportunities, they missed some opportunities, very even game all the way around.”
In the fourth period, the Dukes tallied seven penalty corners compared to the Vikings’ five.
Dougherty said his team “flipped the script” by switching their penalty corner starting position to the left side of the field, which helped them garner so many scoring opportunities across the final
15 minutes.
“We flipped it from the left side to the right side, (Loudoun Valley) kind of confused their defense a little bit,” Dougherty said. “They gave us some open lanes. And then when we went back to that side, they kind of forgot that we had shifted again. So I was trying to get more ball movement and more people movement, if you will, inside the circle, ’cause they do a really nice job of man-marking. But we needed to get them off our hips and so that’s how we ended up scoring the last two goals.”
Those two goals gave Gloucester the championship-clinching, signature win they had been craving for so long against Loudoun Valley, finally picking up a victory this weekend against a
Vikings program that had proven to be a thorn in the Dukes’ side over the past couple years.
