Nansemond River’s field hockey team was sharp and played well offensively and defensively in a 3-0 scrimmage victory over Woodside Thursday morning.

Looking toward the start of the regular season, with the Lady Warriors hosting Western Branch on Wednesday in what’s a key Southeastern District game right out of the blocks, Nansemond River head coach Allie Mowry knows her team won’t be able to ease into the season.

“We’ll see if all the work we’ve done through the offseason has paid off. We’ll find out right away,” said Mowry, a former Lady Warrior standout who went on to an outstanding collegiate career at Radford and is now entering her second season as head coach.

Western Branch finished second in the district and progressed to the VHSL Group AAA State semifinals last season.

Along with going up against the Lady Bruins, Nansemond River has matches against Grassfield, Hickory and defending state champion Lakeland in the first four weeks of the season.

The Lady Warriors return seven starters from last season’s team, including a line of captains across the midfield with senior Jordan Morris and junior Shelbi Holloman flanking central midfielder Mary Gover.

The Lady Warriors pushed most of the action into Woodside’s end of the field in the scrimmage. Nansemond River’s passing paid off for an attack into the Woodside circle and a penalty corner less than three minutes in.

Audrey Dailey smashed a big hit into the back of the cage on the ensuing corner play. Nansemond River added two goals in the second period of the scrimmage.

“Today was mainly to place ourselves out there and see what we’re doing before Western Branch,” Morris said. “We need to see what we have to work on in practice for the next couple days before we play them.”

The teams practiced and went full speed even with heavy smoke covering Nansemond River’s campus.

Nansemond River finished fourth in the Southeastern last fall, going 11-5 overall and 6-3 in district. The Lady Warriors lost 5-0 vs. Western Branch. NR lost to city rival Lakeland in the last district game of the season and in the semifinals of the district tournament.