It’s now four straight Liberty District field-hockey tournaments the Yorktown Patriots have won, pretty much all in dominating fashion.
The top-seed Patriots (13-3) won the 2024 high-school championship on their home field with a 3-0 victory over the third-seed Arlington rival Washington-Liberty Generals (12-6) on Friday (Oct. 25).
Scoring the goals for Yorktown in the title match were Elena Reiser with two, one on a penalty shot, and Olivia Stafford. Anna Menard had an assist.
Stafford’s goal gave Yorktown a 1-0 lead in the second quarter. The Patriots led 1-0 at halftime. Sarah Kinzer got the shutout in goal, her ninth this season. She has a 12-2 overall record.
Yorktown was 2-0 in the tournament after receiving a first-round bye.
Overall, Yorktown was 8-0 against district rivals this season, outscoring those opponents 34-2 with six shutouts. In its four district-tournament championships, Yorktown has an 8-0 record.
Including tournament and regular-season matches over four seasons, Yorktown is 32-0 against league opponents, with 22 shutouts.
Washington-Liberty played in the 2024 title match for the sixth time in eight years, but has not come away with victory during that run.
In this season’s tournament semifinals, Yorktown rallied from an early one-goal deficit to rout the No. 4 seed and visiting Marshall Statesmen, 5-1. Washington-Liberty nipped the host and No. 2 seed Langley Saxons, 1-0.
Leading Yorktown were Quincy Greene with three goals and Paige Baskin and Stafford with one each. Stafford had three assists and Reiser two. Kinzer earned the win in goal.
In Washington-Liberty’s semifinal, Elle Pickard scored off a crossing pass from Riley Clouse with 9:58 left in the second quarter for the lone goal of the match. Kaitlyn Nowinski got the win in goal.
Washington-Liberty topped the visiting and sixth-seed McLean Highlanders, 2-1, in overtime in the first round. Clouse scored the game-winning goal on a penalty-stroke situation. The first goal was scored by Pickard off an assist from Kelly McIntyre. Nowinski got the win in net.
Next, Yorktown will be a top seed in the 6D North Region tournament along with the Oakton Cougars. Oakton defeated Yorktown in last year’s title match. Washington-Liberty also is in the region tournament.
NOTE: Reiser was chosen as the Liberty District’s Player of the Year. She also was selected first-team all-district along with teammates Stafford, Greene, Menard and Paige Baskin. Clouse and Apollo Crenshaw from Washington-Liberty made first team. Making second team from Yorktown were Molly Gill, Maddie Nimerala, Mairin Almy and Reagan Fruzzetti. From W-L, McIntyre and Sophie Bourgeois made second team.
