Lady Cavs go to 9-0
Published 10:17 pm Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Lakeland improved to 9-0 on its field hockey campaign Wednesday with a 6-0 victory over city rival King’s Fork.
The Lady Cavaliers didn’t allow the Lady Bulldogs a shot on goal and the match ended by mercy rule, new this season to high school field hockey, less than a minute after Kendell Combs’ fourth goal of the day midway through the second half.
The rule is the match is called once a team is winning by six or more goals at or later than halfway through the second half.
If not for loyal defending by the Lady Bulldogs, most notably goalkeeper Kristen Moore, who finished with 22 saves and a save on a penalty stroke versus Kelsey Smither in the first half, Lakeland could have put more goals on the board in the 45 minutes of action.
The Lady Cavs blitzed the King’s Fork goal practically from the start. In the fifth minute, Summer Parker intercepted a King’s Fork free hit, drove into the arc and flicked a pass across the goal for Combs to knock into the back of the cage.
Less than two minutes later, Parker swept in a shot in the aftermath of a Lakeland penalty corner. Megan Oliver assisted Parker.
King’s Fork kept Lakeland at bay for the next 15 minutes, but that span included multiple scrums within a yard or less of the Lady Bulldog goal line.
Moore’s penalty stroke save came in the 20th minute. Lakeland kept the attacking pressure on though and Combs completed a hat trick by halftime.
In the 22nd minute, Smither and Combs connected on a play that had already come close to working a couple times earlier in the half.
Smither blasted the ball from beyond the top of the KF arc and Combs got her stick on the drive, redirecting it into the goal.
A few minutes later, a dribbling show by Smither, from the right sideline toward the right post of the KF cage, ended with Smither flicking the ball to Alexis Albright and Albright backhanding the ball to Combs in front of goal for the shot and goal.
Parker scored her second of the match in the 37th minute, with Smither getting another assist. Combs, from an assist by Brittany Milteer, scored her fourth in the 45th minute.
The Lady Bulldogs (1-4, 0-4) host Deep Creek Wednesday at 5 p.m. Lakeland (9-0, 4-0) goes to Indian River Wednesday afternoon.