Timely Penalty Stroke Propels Saxons

Langley Pulls Out a 2-1 Victory Over Oakton On a Second-Half Penalty Stroke by Senior Midfielder Faith Adams to Remain Undefeated

When the whistle blew Monday afternoon at Langley, there was no discussion among the Saxons players or coaching staff.

For starters, they didn’t need an explanation.

They all knew that when junior Katy Wingo, one of three Saxons sprinting toward Oakton’s goal on a breakaway, was tripped inside the box that the whistle meant there would be a penalty stroke awarded.

And they didn’t need to talk about who would take it, either.

	“Most of the time I tell them that whoever wants to take it, if they feel good about it, for them to step up and take the stroke,” Langley Coach Jennifer Robb said. “It’s a great thing. I’ve got several great captains who are all capable of taking strokes.” So senior co-captain Faith Adams offered only a nod in the direction of senior co-captain Katie Knapp, the other most likely candidate to take the shot, before stepping center-field and turning to square off against Oakton senior goalie Michelle Covington, who stood a mere seven yards away. But although Knapp said she had “100 percent confidence” that Adams would make the stroke and give the Saxons the lead, Adams’ said the decision wasn’t made out of confidence at all. It was a matter of sheer determination.
Langley senior defender Haley Blood looks on as fellow senior defender Lauren Canning battles Oakton senior midfielder Devin Grimm for a ball Monday.

“It was so scary,” Adams said. “We wanted so bad to stay undefeated. Plus, Michelle is one of my good friends so that made it more intense. She’s on my club team, so I was scared because I know she’s really good at strokes. And on top of it all, she knows where I go.”

But that knowledge wasn’t enough to save Covington or the Cougars. Adams fired a shot to the top right corner of the net to break open a tie game and give the Saxons a 2-1 lead with 9:03 to play. Langley, despite being outplayed in many areas, held on for its ninth consecutive victory of the season.

“The penalty stroke took us out of our game a little bit,” said Oakton Coach Lizzie McManus, whose team fell to 5-4 on the year. “We had the momentum going for us and I believe we were the better team. But it came out of our hands … and we couldn’t get back on top.

“We dominate every game … we have more shots, more corners. But we can’t finish. I think we’re doing everything right but putting that period on the end of the sentence. … It’s frustrating, because we don’t know what to fix.”

Indeed, the Cougars, who were led by senior Ashley Kimener and junior Pilar Lopez-Gomez, recorded eight shots to the Saxons’ two. They also totaled four corners, including three in the second half, to Langley’s three.

“Oakton is a fabulous team, and they came out here and really had our number,” Robb said. “They were outplaying us for a large portion of that game. They had more opportunities than we did, but when got it when it counted. … We only had two shots but we made sure they went in the back of the net.”

Langley got on the board first when Adams fed Knapp, who was open in front of the left corner of the goal, with 25:09 remaining in the opening half.

“It was all Faith,” Knapp insisted. “I love playing with her, and we really do work well together.”

But Oakton responded, knotting the score at 1 on an unassisted shot by senior forward Brittany Krout less than two minutes later. The Cougars quick score seemed to catch the unbeaten Saxons, who had not played a game in 11 days, by surprise.

“We were unprepared when they came back and scored that goal on us,” Robb said. “We just weren’t doing a very good job transitioning the ball up and getting in the circle. We usually do a great job passing the ball, and that’s one thing that we weren’t doing as great a job of today. They were double- and triple-teaming us all over the field and we weren’t making our quick passes.

“I think that having a week off in between games made it difficult because we weren’t seeing things as well.”

Most of the second half was played in front of Langley’s goal, prompting Robb to call a time out with 14:42 remaining. She delivered a fiery speech to her players, imploring them to get wide and keep their sticks down low. She also told then that if they wanted to remain undefeated, they needed to pick it up.

The Saxons responded, and with less than 10 minutes remaining they played great defense on a Cougars’ corner before taking off on a breakaway toward Oakton’s goal. Knapp, Wingo and senior forward Morgan Danner had only one player to beat, but she drew the tripping penalty in the circle before Langley could get off a shot.

The call set up Adams’ game-winning shot.

“The best thing about our team is that we all just really, really want to win,” said Adams, one of 10 seniors who start for the Saxons. “We have that attitude. I mean, we have really good skill and team work, too, but I think it’s the drive we have to win that matters most.”

To see a complete photo gallery from Monday’s game, go to

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/1179855540834/AngelaWatts/LGOKFieldHockey