Lakeland finishes 9-0 district record

Published 11:16 pm Wednesday, October 15, 2008

CHESAPEAKE – With two goals each from Jennifer Hedrick and Kaity Byrum, Lakeland completed a perfect regular season through the Southeastern District with a 5-0 victory at Grassfield on Wednesday in a district field hockey match.

Lakeland ran through its nine Southeastern District opponents by a total score of 63-3. Lakeland clinched its ninth straight regular season district title last week with a win against Great Bridge.

On Wednesday, Lakeland spoiled Grassfield’s senior day by outshooting the Lady Grizzlies 30-2 and turning a 13-1 advantage in penalty corners into three goals.

Email newsletter signup

Byrum started the scoring five minutes into the match. Off a penalty corner for the Lady Cavs, Kelsey Smither recovered the ball after it initially bounced past the top of the Grassfield arc. Smither sent a hard drive into the middle of the arc. Morgan McCaw sent the ball toward the left post where Byrum pushed it into the cage.

All three Lakeland goals in the first half were set up by similar plays by Smither. A few minutes after Lakeland’s first goal, Smither took a restart from the dotted line outside the Grassfield arc. Her drive went toward the goal mouth, Kendell Combs put a shot on goal, then Hedrick was there for the rebound and the goal at the right post.

With less than a minute left in the half, Hedrick scored her second goal and Lakeland scored its second time out of four penalty corners in the half. This time a shot on goal by Smither was deflected to Hedrick near the left post and Hedrick quickly jabbed the ball into the cage.

Lakeland pilled on more pressure on the Grassfield arc and cage after the half. The Lady Cavaliers added to their lead with a goal by Taylor Young off an assist by Smither, then another conversion on a penalty corner with Byrum scoring off an assist by McCaw.

The Lady Cavaliers have one more regular season match, on Monday against Kecoughtan in Virginia Beach at 6 p.m. The match was rescheduled from this past Tuesday.

Lakeland (13-2, 9-0) will then be the top seed heading into the Southeastern District Tournament which is next Wednesday and Friday at the U.S. Field Hockey National Training Center in Virginia Beach.