Cox claims 4th straight region title
VIRGINIA BEACH — It’s difficult to find a rivalry in the 757 bigger than Cox-First Colonial, two field hockey teams used to competing on the biggest stage. But despite the bright lights, Cox coach Taylor Rountree just wanted one thing from her team: to play this game like it was any other.
The Falcons earned a fourth consecutive region title, defeating First Colonial 3-0 for the Class 5 Region A championship Thursday at the Regional Training Center.
“I’m just really proud of them,” Rountree said. “We wanted this to not be an emotional game for us. It’s really hard. First Colonial is a really good team and I just wanted (my team) to come out here and just make it about Cox field hockey, and we did that.”
Zella Bailey finished with two goals and Quin Braithwaite also scored for the undefeated Falcons (17-0), who have handed First Colonial (16-2) its only two losses.
Bailey, who leads Cox with 38 goals, already has scored 10 times in the postseason, including a six-goal, two-assist effort in a 13-0 win over Tallwood in the region quarterfinals.
“It’s super-exciting. This year, we really came out and were like, ‘This is what we’re working for, our end goal is this,’ and this is what we came to do,” Bailey said. “It was just a matter of taking care of business. We knew we had to get this done in order to set a statement for states this year, and that’s what we did.”
With the region title, Cox will have home-field advantage in the first round of the state tournament, while First Colonial, playing in its first state tournament since 2018, will travel.
“This was important because my first year coaching here, we lost (the region) and had to travel the first round of states and we didn’t make it out,” Rountree said. “It was important for them to have control and be able to host on their home field in the first round of states.”
Cox and First Colonial have faced each other five times since 2012 in a state championship game, so they are used to seeing each other in these moments.
“These are the games that I look forward to the most,” Cox goaltender Abby Spear said. “It’s the ones where I’m the most challenged, and it’s what I play hockey for. I really love these games.”
Spear finished with several huge saves, including a couple on First Colonial’s dominant goal scorer, Finley Payne, for the
clean sheet. She earned her third straight shutout of the postseason and 14th shutout this season.
The Falcons are looking for their fourth state title in a row. The players are focused on continuing to add to Cox’s field hockey legacy.
“The reason I feel like we succeed so well isn’t because we’re maybe the most-skilled
team or the best-coached team,” Spear said. “It’s because we play for each other and we play for the people that are going to come up, like the middle schoolers and the elementary schoolers that come out and watch our games that I hear screaming on the sidelines. We play for them. That’s what tradition is.”