THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 18, 1995 TAG: 9511181517
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIENNA, VA. LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
The Group AAA field hockey tournament final will not be an all-Beach affair for only the second time in six years, thanks to Northern Region champion Lake Braddock.
Despite being outplayed for the majority of the game, the Bruins pulled off a 1-0 overtime victory over defending state runner-up Bayside in a quarterfinal game Friday at Oakton High.
Six-time defending champion Cox escaped a well-thought-out South Lakes game plan with a 1-0 victory to keep the Beach alive in the tournament.
Cox (19-0) will play North Stafford (14-5) in a 10 a.m. semifinal today at Oakton. The Wolverines were a 1-0 winner over James River. Lake Braddock (15-1-2) will face Midlothian (16-2) in the other semifinal. Midlothian defeated Stafford 1-0 to advance.
The championship game is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The Marlins (16-4) finished regulation with a 9-2 shot advantage and had 16 penalty-corner plays to the Bruins' four. But it wasn't enough.
Midway through the reduced-player sudden-death overtime (where the teams battle in a seven-on-seven instead of 11-a-side format), it appeared Bayside had won the game.
Dawn Bell took a penalty-corner feed from Kay Anderson and blasted a shot to the left post that one official signaled as a goal. But after a short discussion with the other official, it was ruled that the ball had hit the outside of the post instead of the inside.
Minutes later, Lake Braddock forward Kelly Wright sent a free hit from midfield that skirted past the Bayside defense and to the waiting stick of Jaime Kelso. Kelso took a shot at keeper Jen Walter but was rejected. Unfortunately, the kickout went right back to Kelso, who easily tapped the ball in to end the game.
``It never should have gotten to overtime,'' Bayside coach Kathy Mustain said. ``We had tremendous opportunities, but you have to finish and we didn't.''
South Lakes (14-3-1) changed its entire game plan for the Falcons - opting to play half-field, man-on-man in an effort to pick off a pass and get a breakaway.
``It was an offensive game plan,'' coach Jill English said.
But it turned defensive as Cox controlled the entire game - finishing with a 20-2 penalty-corner advantage and a 15-0 edge on shots.
But it wasn't until 4:10 left in the game that the Falcons finally scored on Catherine McCallum's penalty-corner pass from Brianne Baylor.
``Yes, it was frustrating,'' McCallum said of the South Lakes strategy. ``But we came together in the last 10 minutes and pulled it off.'' by CNB