VIRGINIA FIELD HOCKEY
Cavaliers Come In for Landing, Hold On for Victory Over Saints
The Saints' Reilly Woodman, left, helps keep Cavaliers star Eliana Brown, right, scoreless on Thursday.
(By Richard A. Lipski -- The Washington Post)
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Friday, October 9, 2009
The W.T. Woodson field hockey team was prepared to take on St. Stephen's/St. Agnes on Thursday afternoon without its coach. But when the No. 4 Cavaliers turned onto Seminary Road, assistant coach Jennifer DePoto had an announcement to make.
Becky Preston, the team's third-year coach, would meet the team in Alexandria. A forensic biologist by trade, Preston traveled to Sarasota, Fla. on Wednesday because she had to testify in court, but she was able to catch an earlier flight and landed at Reagan National Airport on Thursday afternoon at 3.
With Preston still wearing a black pantsuit, W.T. Woodson made sure its coach didn't regret a hectic day of travel. The Cavaliers played a flawless first half and survived a late rally from the Saints to escape with a 3-2 win.
"I think that really pumped us up," senior Emily Patterson said of Preston's return. "We were excited to have our coach back."
Thursday marked W.T. Woodson's second victory over a private school during Preston's tenure. The Cavaliers upset Georgetown Visitation, 2-1, on Sept. 27, 2007, and the win also helped W.T. Woodson improve to 14-1 this season.
Patterson scored her first goal of the year only 3 minutes 32 seconds into the contest, while junior Casey Dexter converted from a near-impossible angle with 9:38 left in the first half. Senior Shelly Montgomery scored less than five minutes into the second half to give W.T. Woodson a 3-0 lead.
But St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (7-4-2), which was missing two players because of illness and had several others fighting a bug, wasn't done. The Saints rallied behind goals from Brittni Register and Ana Gomez-Acebo and nearly tied it.
"I love playing teams that you can respect after you play them, and they had some great individual players," said Montgomery, whose fifth goal of the season was the result of a blast from the top center of the scoring circle.
"I know they can do it without me," Preston joked. "I don't know if I make that big of a difference, but it's nice to be here and see them play. "
W.T. Woodson 3 St. Stephen's/St. Agnes 2 Brown Excels: Though she didn't score against St. Stephen's/St. Agnes, W. T. Woodson junior Eliana Brown has been having a stellar season. Brown has 16 goals and has also chipped in with four assists. Stepping In: Because her goalkeeper, Blair Van den Berg, missed the game because of illness, St. Stephen's/St. Agnes Coach Marsha Way decided to pull her sweeper, Polly Carbonall, into the cage. In the spot start Carbonall made six saves against a powerful W.T. Woodson offense.
