Suffolk News-Herald

Ariel Cookson knocked in a hat trick and Kelsey Smither added two more goals as the Gray team defeated the Pink team 6-1 in the major leagues of the Suffolk Girls Field Hockey League on Monday evening at Lakeland High School. Gray also defeated Pink in the senior league, as Heather Proffit took an assist from Lynsey Daughtrey and knocked it in for a 1-0 win. The wins raised both teams’ respective records to 3-1 (they each had one more game later Monday night that ended after press time).

&uot;We really wanted to beat them, because they beat us two weeks ago,&uot; said Cookson, a student at Western Branch Middle School. &uot;We’ll keep winning if we keep scoring and playing defense.&uot;

Her first goal gave the Gray team a 1-0 lead, but Morgan McCaw tied it up just before halftime. Smither took the opening face-off down the right sideline and slipped it into the left side of the Pink goal.

The Pink team went on the attack for the next few minutes, but Cookson took a pass at midfield and raced down the left sideline. Running into trouble on the endline, she slapped a pass to Smither in the middle, and the Lady Grays had a 3-1 lead.

After a Gray attack went out of bounds, the Pink goalkeeper knocked the ball down the left side of the field. Erin Mack darted in front of a Pink player, took the ball back down to the goal, and shot a pass to Cookson in the center for another goal. Cookson scored another goal a few moments later for her final goal.

In the Senior game, the Gray team spent virtually the entire game on the attack, but Pink goalkeeper Ashley Payton, who played on the Nansemond River team that made it to the district tournament last season, kept them out of the net for the first half. But Proffit scored minutes into the second, and the Pink team was again unable to mount an attack.