Warriors claw past Patriots

It’s going to be a while before Western Albemarle’s Jeannette Fellows scores a bigger goal.

With the Warriors and county rival Albemarle knotted at 12 goals apiece in sudden-death overtime, Fellows put in the game-winner off of a pass from teammate Ellen Shaffrey to win the game, 13-12.

“Ellen found me on the side, and I just remember thinking that if I don’t go left, my coach is going to kill me,” Fellows said. “So I had to go left and luckily, it went in.”

In a back and forth game in which neither team led by more than two goals, it appeared the Warriors were going to walk away victorious in the second half until the Patriots’ Rebecca Maine tied the game with 10 seconds left on the clock.

“It was exciting and just the kind of competition that we’re so thrilled that Central Virginia has,” Haws said. “To have two teams that made it states last year and be able to play here and take into overtime, it was fantastic.”

In the first overtime, Western went up by one on a shot from Stewart Summers, only to have Albemarle’s Katie Williams tie things back up with her fourth goal of the game.

Jordan Lynn just about tucked one in the net in the waning moments of the first overtime, but Patriots goaltender Alexis Carey came up with a big save to extend the game.

“Obviously the teams were pretty evenly matched coming in,” said Albemarle coach Laurie Pratt. “But we feel like we missed some opportunities there at the end that we could have used. But I’m really proud of this team hanging in there and really putting forth their best effort all the way through. It’s tough to lose in sudden death.”

While the loss is a tough pill to swallow, Pratt and her squad are only five games into their schedule and eager to take as much as they can out of such a tight game.

“It was a good eye-opener for us,” Pratt said. “I think we’re going to be in a lot of games like this where we’re going to play a lot of teams like [Western].”

The Patriots held a two-goal lead heading into the half, but with a quick pair of goals, Lynn evened up the game.

Lynn finished with four goals, but perhaps her biggest contribution was holding Albemarle’s Kathleen Frechette to a single assist.

“To take out Kathleen Frechette, someone who’s been spotlighted as ‘the player,’ was huge,” Haws said. “But Albemarle still has a lot of depth on that roster.”

While Western was able to keep Frechette to a quite night, Williams, Courtney Elliott and Rachel Hochstetler each had at least two goals.

“It’s the best feeling to beat Albemarle,” Lynn said, “especially on our home turf.”

The Warriors had not beaten the Patriots since 2007, dropping both games last year.

“I think this is probably our toughest game,” Lynn said. “They’re our biggest rivals every year and we know what to expect from them and how they play.”

Albemarle hosts St. Anne’s on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Western travels to St. Catherine’s on Thursday at 5 p.m.