Ashburn, Va. — The Loudoun Valley High School field hockey team had been here before. The Vikings were the back-to-back reigning state champions and were looking to three-peat when they hosted Gloucester in the 2025 VHSL Class 4 State championship game on November 15 at Independence High School in Ashburn.
“This is a gritty team that worked hard all season and got better along the way. I couldn’t be more proud of this team,” Loudoun Valley head coach Melissa Ferrara said. “It’s truly been a team effort. To get to this point, to get as far as we did as a unit, I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Despite opening the scoring late in the third quarter, Loudoun Valley’s quest for their third straight state title fell short when the Dukes scored with 23 seconds left in regulation to avenge their 2023 and 2024 losses, defeating the Vikings 2-1 to claim the VHSL Class 4 State championship.
“We went back-and-forth, toe-to-toe,” Gloucester head coach Joe Dougherty said. “We missed some opportunities, they missed some opportunities, so it was a very even game all the way around. It was a heck of a game by both teams.”
Gloucester and Loudoun Valley have gone toe-to-toe three times over the last three state tournaments. In 2023, the Vikings won their first VHSL Class 4 State title, defeating the Dukes in overtime, 2-1. In a rematch in 2024, the Vikings cut Gloucester’s state playoff run short, knocking off the Dukes 3-2 in a semifinal game before eventually winning their second straight state championship game over Chancellor 3-0.
“Two years ago, we lost to them in overtime. Last year, we lost to them with 10.9 seconds left,” Dougherty said. “Only fitting that we flipped the script and won with 23 seconds to go.”
With less than 40 seconds to play, the Dukes set up a penalty corner. After the ball cleared the circle, Gloucester brought it back in and fired a shot that rattled off the lower goal post and ricocheted back to the stick of senior defender Ellary Miller, who capitalized on the opportunity and buried the go-ahead goal with just 23 seconds left in regulation.
“They do a really good job of man-marking, so we needed to get them off our hips,” Dougherty said. “When we flipped the penalty corners from the left side to the right side, I think it confused their defense a little, which created some open lanes for us. Then when we went back to the left side, it created more ball movement and more people movement inside the circle.”
While it was the Dukes who scored the final goal, the Vikings got the scoring started late in the third quarter. After earning a penalty corner with five minutes left in the third, the Vikings called a timeout to discuss how they wanted to play the corner.
Out of the timeout, the Vikings made the initial pass towards the top of the scoring circle, but it skipped past the intended target, seemingly breaking the play.
However, Loudoun Valley senior defender Madison Racino controlled the ball and made a clean pass to senior midfielder Hope Losty, who fired a shot past the keeper to put the Vikings up 1-0 with about five minutes left in the third.
“I think it was Madison’s first assist in her entire career here,” Ferrara said. “We brought her up to the circle this season, thinking we would get her involved in the corners, and lo and behold she got an assist in the state championship. That was very exciting.”
“Hope is such a team player that she doesn’t even think about herself scoring the goal,” Ferrara said. “She’s just excited the team got on the board.”
Two minutes after their first goal, the Vikings looked to extend their lead when Losty fired a shot off a corner, but Gloucester senior goalie Addyson Zabicki swatted it away.
The Dukes then flipped the field before midfielder Charlotte Houtz crossed a pass to forward Aaliyah Mattocks, who evened the score at 1-1 with less than 30 seconds to play in the third.
The Loudoun Valley defense had their work cut out for them early in the fourth as they successfully defended five straight Gloucester corners in the first 75 seconds of the fourth quarter.
“Our defense has gotten stronger and stronger all season; they have been the absolute backbone of this team. In the beginning of the season, we had trouble scoring, and the defense just held it together,” Ferrara said. “[Junior goalie Kyra Ferrara] has been excellent all season. She’s calm, cool, and collected back there. They have a good synergy back there, and we are so truly lucky to have that defensive unit.”
After the defense did its job, the Vikings were able to flip the field, giving junior forward Zeylah Lee a shot on goal, which was kicked away by Zabicki.
Loudoun Valley, however, earned a slew of corners, which proved uneventful, until the Dukes flipped the field and fired off a shot on goal, scoring with about three minutes to play. However, the referee waved off the goal, resetting the score to 1-1.
Looking to relive that brief moment of triumph, the Dukes continued to pressure the Vikings before earning the eventual game-winning corner and avenging their 2023 and 2024 losses, while claiming the VHSL Class 4 State championship, 2-1.
While it wasn’t the outcome the Vikings had hoped for, it will go down as another magical run for the Loudoun Valley field hockey team, who will bid farewell to seniors Kearney Cunningham, Mia Erickson, Morgan Greene, Katie Marsh, Losty, and Racino following graduation next spring.
“This group of seniors has been a special, special group. I love these kids,” Ferrara said. “I’m going to miss their leadership and their work ethic. They are the grittiest, hardest working group of girls you could ask for.”
Katey Jackson captured 200+ photos at the game!
Scoring Plays
| Period | Time | Team | Play | Score |
| 3Q | 4:57 | Loudoun Valley | Hope Losty (Madison Racino assist) | 0-1 |
| 3Q | 0:27 | Gloucester | Aaliyah Mattocks (Charlotte Houtz assist) | 1-1 |
| 4Q | 0:23 | Gloucester | Ellary Miller | 2-1 |