In the midst of their deep postseason run, field hockey will line up to defend their 2022 Region 5C title against the Godwin Eagles on Nov. 1 at Lloyd C. Bird High School. The Trojans handled the Prince George Royals with relative ease in their 7-1 victory in the semifinals. Godwin’s defense, anchored by Kylie Jenkins and Camryn Sampson, gave the Albemarle Patriots a challenging time in their zone; winning 2-0 to advance to the Region Finals.
“This team has primarily won games off of their defense, whether that’s from getting takeaways or limiting the opportunities our opposition get in the open field,” Coach Heyden said. “In order to make it far in the playoffs, you have to fall back on the identity that has got you in a successful position. This season, we have relied on our defense to steer the ship and that’s why we’re in the Regional Championship.”
Throughout their 2023 journey, the Trojans have shown they are capable of beating a myriad of teams in the state due to the backline of their defense. For this reason, this has put less pressure on the weapons they have offensively; however, they have still shown the ability to take over a game with their offense. In ten games this season, the Trojans have been able to score over 5 goals due to their speed on the wing with Josie Painter and Reese Barrett.
“As we get closer to state final contention, our offense has done a great job of scoring goals off of the mistakes that were made by the opposing teams,” Assistant Coach Sophie Kingsbury said. “With our balanced attack, we’ve been able to score most of our 7-8 goals in the first half over the past couple of weeks because of the teams that have played an attack based style against our defense.”
This meeting will be a rematch of last year’s Region 5C championship final. The Trojans gave the Eagles a difficult time creating chances in the middle of the field. On top of that, Midlothian controlled the amount of possession they had offensively as they concluded the game with a 2-1 win. According to Coach Heyden, the rest of the Field Hockey team is embracing this rivalry as they prepare for one of the best opponents on their schedule.
“The Eagles have matched up exceptionally well against us over the past two years,” Coach Heyden said. ” Since 2022, they have been a physical team that does not allow many big plays at crucial parts of the game. In this game on Wednesday, our game plane will be us concentrating on matching their physicality in both of these halves, along with focusing to control offensive possessions in the middle of the field.”
