Western rolls in quarterfinals

Heading into Tuesday night’s Region II field hockey quarterfinal, Western Albemarle had breezed through the season with little trouble against Jefferson District foes. In the regular season, the Warriors rang up a 7-0-1 record against JD opponents, with the lone tie coming against Monticello.

The Warriors didn’t take their foot off the gas in any way as they cruised to a 6-0 victory over visiting Louisa County on Tuesday, recording three goals in each half.

The Lions (0-12) had a hard time containing Western’s attack all night and were outshot 23-3 and 17-0 in the first half. The Warriors (14-4-1) controlled the ball and the clock the whole night, holding the ball in their end drastically longer than their opponent.

“We did, in the first half, draw nine corners and only had four shots off of those, It’s good that we are drawing the corners, but I wish we would have scored more,” said Western coach Mia Fields. “We came out strong and executed, so I was happy with their performance overall.”

That inability to execute on the corners was just about the only thing Western did poorly. Madelyn DuCharme started the scoring off for the Warriors midway through the first half and also added an insurance goal in the second half. Becka Stoner did a great job all night as a distributor, adding two assists.  L.P. Desch and Katie Noonan also added a goal and an assist each.

The Lions’ first varsity season ended with the loss, their third of the season against Western, which won its 10th consecutive district title.

Western continues its run in the region tournament at home against Fauquier on Thursday night at 6 p.m.