Leesburg, Va. — In a very back and forth game on October 16, the Woodgrove High School field hockey shocked the Dulles District; the Wolverines defeated powerhouse Heritage High School in Purcellville. Woodgrove scored two goals in the first half of that game, and Heritage simply couldn’t recover.
So with a berth to the VHSL Region 4C championship game on the line, people were eager to see if Woodgrove could trump Heritage once again. However, a more rested Pride team showed up to the region semifinal on October 30, and Heritage senior forward Sydney Krieger scored six goals, as the Pride cruised past the Wolverines, 8-0.
“We got back into our mindset that we needed,” Heritage senior midfielder Josie Rossbach said. “We scheduled more practices and harder practices to get back into our groove.”
[adrotate banner=”10″]At the beginning of the first half, Woodgrove came out strong and ready to play. They kept the ball in Heritage’s end for the first five minutes and almost scored off of the first corner of the game for both teams.
However, once the Pride got their feet moving, and adjusted to some of Woodgrove’s passes, it was their game to lose. Krieger energized the Pride fans when she scored her first of what would be six goals of the night.
Even with the strong play of Woodgrove senior goalie Lauryl King – who had 14 saves on the night – the Pride managed to score three more goals – one by sophomore midfielder Lindsey Blythe, one by freshman forward Renee Schmidt and another by Krieger – before the end of the first half.
As the second half started, Heritage was not willing to show Woodgrove any mercy. The Pride continued to push the speed of Woodgrove, as Krieger added four more goals in the second half.
“We just have to work as a team,” Rossbach said. ” We have melded together more as the season progressed, and I really think that we have grown strong and improved since some disconnection we had a couple of weeks ago.”
No. 2 Heritage has another imminent test in front of them as the Pride travel to No. 1 Riverside – who defeated them 4-1 in the regular season – on November 1 to play for the VHSL Region 4C championship. The Pride and the Rams have both already earned berths to the VHSL 4A State tournament.
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