Gloucester High School field hockey players pulled out a 2-1 double overtime victory over Deep Run Saturday to win the VHSL Class 5 State Championship at South County High School in Lorton.
“I’m still floating on cloud nine, it still hasn’t fully sunken in yet,” GHS head coach Mike Miller said on Monday. “It was a good run and we had a blast.”
Prior to reaching the final, Gloucester outplayed Atlee, 9-1, in the state quarterfinals at GHS last week before shutting out Stafford, 2-0, in the semifinals Friday at South County.
Stafford had not been shut out all season and had only one loss before meeting the Dukes. H.P. Johnson scored in the first half, assisted by Kessa Romero, and Ali Goodwin scored in the second, assisted by Farren Winter, while the Gloucester defense stood strong once again.
Goodwin and Tally Vaughan combined in the midfield to turn away any forward advances by Stafford. “We played most of that game in the rain, so I slowed play down. The girls adjusted well and just attacked them in layers. We did a fantastic job on defense that day. We just took them out of their game,” Miller said.
In Saturday’s season finale, Gloucester faced off Deep Run, the team that sent the Dukes home last year in the state semifinals. Deep Run had upset Mountain View, 2-1, in overtime on Friday.
It was a cold and windy afternoon, and the Gloucester girls had some vengeance on their minds. Goodwin opened scoring with a goal after taking a corner shot from Vaughan. The score remained 1-0 until Deep Run got a goal about five minutes into the second half. The 1-1 tie stood up through regulation, sending the final into overtime.
Miller said his girls had a couple of opportunities in the first OT period, but missed their target. Deep Run sent a high shot into the Gloucester goal, but it was called back for being dangerously high.
With the score still notched at 1-1, the game entered a sudden death OT. Goodwin sent a shot toward the cage and Johnson was there to knock in the state title-winning goal.
“It went in and it felt good. Time to bring on the celebration. It was fantastic,” Miller said of winning his second state title. “We earned it. We put the time in starting in January. We took it game by game and we earned it.”
On the way home, the Dukes’ bus was met at the county line by three Gloucester Sheriff’s Office vehicles that gave the champs a lighted escort back to GHS.
“We flew through the red lights, legally, so that was exciting. I told the girls to take it all in, because it will probably never happen again,” said Miller.
Miller said the celebration continued at GHS, where supporters had pulled together a gala to welcome the champions home. “Our support was amazing. The pizza and cake at GHS when we got back, it was special.”
Miller said the 2018 championship was very similar to the Dukes’ 2015 state title win. “It was the same four teams in the final four. We were undefeated coming in and we beat Deep Run in the final.”
Four of the 2018 champions had sisters on the 2015 title-winning squad. Ainsley Miller, Vaughan, Goodwin and Romero will be the second in their families to hold state championship rings.
Romero, who joined Miller’s varsity squad as a freshman, will have the rare distinction of being the only Duke to hold two state championship rings. “Which is special,” he added.
Miller will lose Romero this year, along with seniors Elizabeth Thomas and Madi Hodges. “We’ll miss them terribly,” Miller said, “but we have a good core coming back, and a strong JV program to pull from.”
The championship win closed out a 22-0 season for the Dukes, who only allowed four goals in their undefeated streak. “That just tells you how well they worked together on the field,” Miller said. “It’s a special group.”