Eastern View tops Culpeper in field hockey

Eastern View’s Brittany McCauley had a goal and an assist, but it was the defensive players on both sides that truly stood out as the Cyclones picked up a 3-0victory over their visiting rivals from Culpeper County High School.

Early in the game, McCauley got her stick on the ball and sent it to teammate Jackie Bedsaul who put it in to give EVHS a 1-0. But despite outshooting the Blue Devilettes 20-3, the Cyclones had a tough time scoring the rest of the way.

“I was extremely proud of our girls, you know Eastern View is a good team,” Culpeper coach Robin Bolt said.

“Eastern View is going to be a contender for the district and to step up and play this well against them I was really proud. Our whole defense played well and in the second half I felt like we stepped up and had more shots on goal.”

Midway through the first half the Cyclones scored on a perfectly executed corner play to Taryn Bierhuizen, who shot it in from the left side of the circle.

Culpeper had an opportunity to cut the lead in half just a few minutes later when Eastern View goalkeeper Elizabeth Fox came out of the cage to challenge the Blue Devils, but missed. Cyclones defender Kelsey Larsen then stepped in and thwarted the CCHS surge and preserved the shutout.

Eastern View then made it a 3-0 lead at the break when a shot from McCauley bounced off the stick of a Culpeper player and into the goal just seconds before halftime.

In the second half both teams found it difficult to get good looks at the cage and neither team was able to score. Fox made saves on all three Culpeper shots while the Devilettes’ Miranda Phipps stopped 12 Eastern View shots.

“I thought we played fairly intense in the first have, but in the second half we played a little bit haphazardly,” EVHS coach Peggy Allen said. “I didn’t think we were passing well in the second half. I think we still played tough on defense. But we just still don’t take advantage of situations we should take advantage of. Taryn had that really nice goal on that corner, but the rest of the time we struggled on our corners.”

The coaches attributed some of the offensive struggles to the chilly weather.

“They played kind of sluggish and I think as the game went on they got cold,” Allen said. “It hurts to hit a ball with a hockey stick in cold weather. It stings your hands and I know that was part of the problem, but still I don’t think we played well at all.”