Two girls fall teams at Yorktown High School enjoyed success in recent Liberty District tournaments, with each recording upsets along the way.
The second-seeded Patriots’ field hockey squad won the district title for a fifth straight time, with the third-seed volleyball unit finishing second in its tournament.
The field hockey team (13-6) upset the top-seed and host Langley Saxons, 1-0, in the championship match on a goal by Madeleine Nimerala with 8:48 left in the match. Patriots’ goalie Sarah Kinzer made 12 saves. The shutout was Yorktown’s ninth of the season.
Yorktown had lost to Langley, 4-1, in a regular-season match just nine days earlier.
By winning the championship, Yorktown has won 11 straight district-tournament games over five seasons.
Yorktown was 3-0 in this season’s district tournament, routing the seventh-seed Wakefield Warriors, 5-1, in the first round, then nipping the McLean Highlanders, 2-1, in overtime in the semifinals.
Nimerala scored two goals against Wakefield, with Molly Gill, Leah Williams and Mary Hardwick having one each. Kinzer made two saves. Against McLean, Gill and Nimerala scored goals, Williams took two shots and Cameron Domnitch had an assist. Kinzer made three saves.
Nimerala was Yorktown’s leading goal-scorer with seven for the season. Williams and Gill had six each, Katie Martin five and Hardwick four.
Williams and Nimerala were chosen first-team all-district, with Gill, Anna Menard and Reagan Fruzzetti chosen second team. Selected honorable mention were Hardwick, Martin, Domnitch, Maren Leonard, Eliza Conway and Mae Cummings.
After the district tourney, Yorktown advanced to play in the 6D North Region tournament. There, the Patriots suffered a season-ending 1-0 loss to the visiting South Lakes Seahawks in the first round.
The loss meant Yorktown did not advance to the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 state tournament, a championship that the Patriots won during the past two seasons and finished second at in 2022.
Volleyball team falls to Langley in district final: Yorktown’s volleyball team (11-10) lost to the host and top seed Langley Saxons in the Nov. 3 championship match, 3-0, which snapped the Patriots’ five-match winning streak. Yorktown was playing in the Liberty District final for the first time.
The Patriots were 2-1 in the 2025 tourney, downing their Arlington rival and sixth-seed Washington-Liberty Generals, 3-1, in the first round. Yorktown then upset the second-seed and host Marshall Statesmen in the semifinals, 3-1, after losing the opening set. The Patriots rallied to win the next three by 25-22, 25-23 and 25-20 scores.
Leading Yorktown in the tournament was first-team all-district libero Addison Hans and second-team senior Gabrielle Tindall, along with honorable-mention senior selections Heidi Velikonja and Abigail Freeman and junior Katherine Thompson.
Catherine Hardwick, Casey Yuh, Tess Riordan and Noelle Amori are among other top Yorktown players.
Wakefield, the fourth seed, finished 1-1 in the tournament, losing to Langley, 3-1, in the semifinals after winning the first set, 27-25.
