After the Yorktown field hockey team spent most of regulation on the defensive, senior forward Christine Downie faced a rare scoring opportunity in overtime of a Sept. 30 contest at Washington-Lee. Sprinting to her right, Downie chased down the rolling ball and slapped a shot across her body toward the left post, beating the W-L goalkeeper.
Game over.
Downie’s off-balance goal lifted Yorktown to a 1-0 victory, sent the Patriots bench into a frenzy and sent several Generals to the turf in agony. First-year Yorktown head coach Stephanie DuVall said she has been trying to break Downie of her off-balance shooting habits for some time. On this night, the senior gave her coach reason for future reconsideration.
"Worked for me last time," Downie joked.
"Obviously, this is an enormous rivalry, so our girls have been so pumped up," DuVall said. "They came out here a little sluggish in the first half, [but] we had our talk at halftime and they were absolutely pumped up in the second half. … Obviously, W-L played fantastically, but our girls did a heckuva job."
Led by senior forward Catherine Pricone and junior midfielder Adrianna Gorsky, W-L maintained possession for most of the game but couldn’t capitalize on its scoring chances.
"They (the Generals) totally dominated the game," W-L head coach Beth Prange said. "Yorktown didn’t even cross the half mark except for one time in the second half. We should have won."
One reason the Generals came up empty was the play of Yorktown goalkeeper Kate Mountain. The junior turned away W-L time and time again. Her play caught the attention of a referee, who said "their keeper is a rock star" before the start of overtime.
"Kate had some absolutely wonderful saves for us," DuVall said. "She was on fire tonight. A couple of saves with her hands, a ton of saves with her feet, she was right at the goalpost, exactly where she needed to be the entire time commanding the defense."
DuVall said junior defender Rachel Brooke and junior forward Kate Bauman have also been standouts for Yorktown.
The game was played in a constant rain. Reserve players wore jackets and each head coach used an umbrella for at least part of the contest.
"It was ugly," Downie said. "It was just pouring. It was hard to see because of the water in your face."
The win improved Yorktown’s National District record to 4-0. The Patriots will host defending district champion Mount Vernon at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 7.
W-L will travel to face Edison at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 7.