THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 1996 TAG: 9611060614
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 90 lines
It took 20 years, but Maury finally got a victory in the Eastern Region field hockey tournament.
The Commodores have been in all but one region tournament since it began in 1977.
But to get their first win, it took a 1-0 overtime victory against Oscar Smith's first-year team to move the Commodores into today's 2 p.m. semifinal at Cox. There, Maury (13-3-1) has the unenviable task of taking on seven-time defending state champion Cox, a 10-0 winner over Kecoughtan.
Kempsville - a 5-1 winner over Lafayette - faces Nansemond River - a 3-0 winner over Booker T. - in the noon semi.
Maury's winning goal came with 4:07 remaining in the first sudden victory overtime when Amy Mayer took a feed from Janet Blevins, who had taken a penalty corner starting pass from Colleen Maloney.
After a tight first half in which Oscar Smith (7-7) got off the only two shots, Maury forced the action and netted fivestraight penalty corners. Unfortunately, the only shot the Commodores could muster was from just outside the scoring circle.
Keeper Anne Forrester then had to save two more Tigers shots at goal before her team could finally take over the momentum.
But even while Maury dominated the remainder of play, it had trouble getting shots.
``Is that unbelievable or what,'' said Maury coach Pat Panzik, who saw her team manage only eight shots despite piling up 28 corners to just two for the Tigers. ``Give (the Oscar Smith) fliers credit. They had so much speed.''
But in overtime - in which the teams play 7-on-7 with no offsides - Maury had five penalty corners and three shots. The last one the winner.
``It was getting frustrating,'' Mayer said.
Cox 10, Kecoughtan 0: Katie McDonald increased her season goal total to 40 with a six-goal explosion to propel the five-time defending region champion Falcons. She also had two assists to push that total to 15.
Cox (17-0) has now outscored opponents 75-0 this season.
Ashley Sperry helped with a pair of goals, while Katie Kubic and Brianne Baylor had one each. Kubic added an assist, as did Taylor Rountree.
``I'm pretty pleased,'' Cox coach Nancy Fowlkes said. ``We did a number of things right, things that we were focusing on. We take every game as a challenge and we play as hard as we can.
``I think that is the ultimate show of respect, to come out and play like you take the opponent seriously enough to do that.''
Cox respected the Warriors (10-6-1) right off the field, charging out to a 4-0 halftime lead on 18 shots and 17 penalty corners. Kecoughtan never got into its offensive side of the field.
And to make sure the Peninsula District runnerup got the message, Cox picked up the second half right where it left off and finished with a 41-2 shooting advantage and had 25 penalty corner plays to one for the Warriors.
Kecoughtan keeper Holly Champion kept it from being worse with a personal best 27 saves.
-LEE TOLLIVER
Nansemond River 3, Booker T. 0: Amanda Strickland scored a pair of second-half goals to ice the first Eastern Region victory for the Warriors (16-2), who had played in Group AA prior to this season.
Melissa Sklar came off the bench to put Nansemond River on the board with 19:37 to play in the first half when she caught Bookers' keeper Tiffany Goodman out of the box.
At the 28:05 mark, Strickland made it 2-0 when she converted Sarah Meinertzhagen's missed shot. She netted another with 11:19 to play when Reina Cruz dumped her a pass in front of the goal. Cruz, a Kellam transfer who tied the Nansemond River school record for goals (20) in the Southeastern District final, tied the assist record with her 11th dish off of the year.
``I feel we're a year or two ahead of schedule,'' Nansemond River coach Bucky Payton said. ``But we won't complain. We're lucky we get to play again.''
- PATTI WALSH
Kempsville 5, Lafayette 1: Jessica Foley and Laura Steadman each netted two goals and Katie Johnson chipped in another as the Chiefs (13-2-1) downed the Rams (8-4).
Kempsville, which outshot Lafayette 18-1 and held a 16-1 corner advantage, opened the scoring 8:15 into the game when Foley tipped in a missed Debbie Kung shot. Steadman then blasted a loose ball by keeper Francis Hewlett, who had eight saves, with 7:44 to play in the half.
Kung and Foley hooked up again to open the second to make it 3-0 and Steadman out manuevered a two defenders for her second tally of the day before Lafayette could get on the board.
- PATTI WALSH ILLUSTRATION: HUY NGUYEN
THE VIRGINIAN PILOT
Oscar Smith's Katie Kraemer, 7, goes down while defending Maury's
Colleen Maloney during Tuesday's game at Cox. by CNB