THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 11, 1995 TAG: 9511110660
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Cox High won its fifth-straight Eastern Region field hockey crown and 45th game in a row Friday with an overwhelming 8-0 victory over Bayside.
The six-time defending Group AAA champion Falcons (18-0) will face the Northern Region runner-up - either South Lakes or Lake Braddock - in a 2:30 p.m. state quarterfinal game Thursday at Fairfax County's Oakton High. Bayside will face the Northern champion at 12:30 p.m.
Despite Cox's dominance of Bayside (16-3) - the Falcons have outscored the Marlins 20-2 in three victories this season - a little push from coach Nancy Fowlkes was needed.
Cox had jumped out to a 2-0 lead halfway through the first half on goals by Katie McDonald and Brianne Baylor, but Fowlkes felt her team was playing too much like it had in Thursday's 4-0 semifinal victory over Tabb.
``I'm usually reacting emotionally and I hope they get the message,'' Fowlkes said. ``I wanted them to get more involved and they did.
``I usually don't remember what I say to them during those times, but people tell me you should bottle such things up and sell them.''
The advertising campaign for Fowlkes' Bottled Pep Talk got off to a good start as the Falcons responded by pounding in six more goals.
``That was the kind of play I was looking for,'' Fowlkes said. ``Yesterday they came to the region tournament not looking like they were ready for it and they played that way for awhile today. Then they started to play the best they can and made a statement.''
McDonald responded two minutes after the timeout talk when she charged to the left side of the Marlins' cage, turned, and fired a blistering shot to the left post past Bayside keeper Jen Walter.
Kim Miller got the message as well and pumped in two quick goals - one while diving to get a Catherine McCallum pass and another on a clean breakaway with two minutes left in the first half.
Lauren Crenshaw took a pass from McCallum 10 minutes into the second period to make it 6-0, and Jessica Barney made it 7-0 seven minutes later when she knocked in another McCallum assist.
Miller registered the hat trick for her 60th goal of the season a couple of minutes later - beating Walter on another breakaway. by CNB