King’s Fork High School’s field hockey team has an unpleasant recent history playing against Grassfield High School, and unfortunately, their meeting this past week did not improve things for the Lady Bulldogs.

Last year, it was a 1-0 loss in overtime, and this time it was a 2-1 loss at the hands of the host Lady Grizzlies, who had defeated Nansemond River High School by the same score earlier in the week.

“The opportunities that we got, we didn’t take advantage of,” King’s Fork head coach Courtney Van der Linden said.

She said the Lady Bulldogs knew what they were up against coming into the game, and it was not a matter of their being outmatched, but rather a need for them to adjust their style of play.

Van der Linden said Grassfield utilizes the space on its field with big hits, covering a lot of ground. King’s Fork generally employs short, quick passes to get things done, which was effective at times, but “our issue was that we couldn’t get it out of the mid-field very often.”

The Lady Bulldogs had three penalty corners to Grassfield’s nine.

She said, “Once you got past the mid-field, it was a very open situation.”

One instance in which the Lady Bulldogs broke through came in the second half, when junior Randi Fiel scored off an assist from senior Holly Wilson.

Overall, Van der Linden said, “We weren’t able to adjust our game to their game,” and the contest showed her “one of our issues we have is we need to be able to see the bigger picture on the field.”

Highlighting her strong performers, though, the Lady Bulldogs coach mentioned Fiel on offense and also senior Maiah Wright, who contributed on defense, including getting behind the keeper on one play and making a save. “She had a phenomenal game,” Van der Linden said.

Sophomore goalie Carlee Morse had six saves.

King’s Fork (1-1, 0-0) hosts Great Bridge High School on Wednesday.