Purcellville, Va. — When the Loudoun Valley High School field hockey team won their regular season matchup with Broad Run on October 11, the Vikings knew they had punched their ticket to the region playoffs. But, there was still a long road ahead in order to compete for the region title.
After wrapping up their regular season on October 13, the Vikings turned on playoff mode and quickly got to work, knocking off Rock Ridge in a district quarterfinal then shutting out perennial power Heritage in a district semifinal, before claiming the the Dulles District title, 1-0, over rival Loudoun County on October 27.
Fast forward one week and Loudoun Valley had shut out Liberty in a region semifinal, punching their ticket to the state tournament and earning themselves a chance to play for the region title in front of their hometown fans.
When the Vikings got that chance, they made the most of it, scoring two fourth-quarter goals to outlast the Fauquier Falcons, 4-2, to claim the VHSL Region 4D title on November 3 in Purcellville.
“It’s crazy honestly, because it’s our first time even going to the region championship,” Loudoun Valley sophomore midfielder Katie Clarke said. “And, we won!”
[adrotate banner=”10″]Having outscored their playoff opponents by a combined score of 19-1 up until the region championship game, the Vikings had their hands full with the Falcons. The teams were somewhat familiar with each other as Loudoun Valley downed Fauquier, 5-4, in a regular season clash on August 29, but two months can bring a lot of change.
With a team like Fauquier, the Vikings knew they would need to strike quickly, and they did just that when senior forward Caity Renshaw scored on a deflection less than four minutes into the game.
That lead was short lived, however, as Fauquier junior Lindsey Cree evened the score at 1-1 midway through the first quarter.
Not to be outshined, Clarke answered with a goal late in the first quarter to put the Vikings back on top 2-1 after the first frame.
Then, early in the second quarter, Fauquier once again had an answer as senior Marjorie Davenport scored to tie the game up at 2-2.
The score would remain at 2-2 until midway through the fourth quarter when Loudoun Valley freshman midfielder Hope Losty wound up from just inside the scoring circle and fired a shot past the Fauquier keeper to give the Vikings the lead with 9 minutes to play.
“Those were the longest nine minutes ever. It felt like an eternity,” Loudoun Valley head coach Melissa Ferrara said. “We knew we still had work to do. Fauquier is a great team, so we knew it wasn’t over, even though I felt the third goal would be the difference, Fauquier came out and gave it their all.”
After being held scoreless through the second and third quarters, Loudoun Valley knew it would take heart and hustle to get past the Falcons, and they felt a slight relief when they saw the third goal pass by the Fauquier keeper in the fourth.
“We wanted to cut to every single ball and not let the defense beat us to any ball,” said Clarke, who was named a Dulles District co-Player of the Year. “Every time they made a mistake, we had to hop on it really quick and try to get a shot off, because their keeper is really good; she’s their best player.”
Knowing the stalwart defense they were up against, the Vikings continued to pressure even with a 1-goal lead and eventually extended that lead to two goals when sophomore forward Addie Acham scored with less than six minutes to play to make it 4-2.
“Their goalkeeper was lights out. She’s amazing. The whole team hustled, they’re strong, they’re well coached. That’s probably the toughest team we’ve played all year. They’re a phenomenal team,” Ferrara said. “We didn’t want to let up, so that fourth goal didn’t feel real.”
The goal was real indeed as the Vikings took the 4-2 lead and held on to win the program’s first region title and punch their first ticket to the state playoffs, where the Vikings will host Region 4C runner up Chancellor in a VHSL Class 4 State quarterfinal on November 8.
“Knowing that we get to host our state quarterfinal here is so exciting, because we’ll get to have this same energy,” Clarke said. “I can’t wait.”
Derrick Jerry captured 100+ photos at the game!
Scoring Plays
| Period | Time | Team | Play | Score |
| 1Q | 11:13 | Loudoun Valley | Caity Renshaw | 1-0 |
| 1Q | 6:34 | Fauquier | Lindsey Cree | 1-1 |
| 1Q | 2:01 | Loudoun Valley | Katie Clarke | 2-1 |
| 2Q | 13:24 | Fauquier | Marjorie Davenport | 2-2 |
| 4Q | 9:08 | Loudoun Valley | Hope Losty | 3-2 |
| 4Q | 5:55 | Loudoun Valley | Addie Acham | 4-2 |