Two-minute drill
Bulldogs score three quick goals in third quarter to beat Cougars
Even though Southern technically had two whole quarters to stage its comeback, it turns out the Bulldogs needed only two minutes.
Chesapeake’s two goal-lead flipped into a one-goal deficit in the blink of an eye in the third quarter as two Bulldogs — Alexia Ploss and Ava Wooster — found the net three times in succession to take a 3-2 lead they were able to ride the rest of the way to victory.
Southern (3-3, 3-3-1) breaks its game up into two-minute intervals, following the belief that a team has about two minutes to react to a goal scored or goal surrendered.
Those two minutes became very important in the third quarter, as the Bulldogs seemed to revel in their energy and in the process left Chesapeake dazed.
“It completely changed the momentum of the game, the intensity got things moving in our favor and moving the ball down the field better for us,” coach Cindy Gray said.
Gray cannot remember Southern field hockey ever being a good second-half team. That’s something the Bulldogs couldn’t have done in the past.
“But every game we’ve been losing at halftime, we’ve come back to score,” Gray said. “Some of them we still lose, but scoring goals in the second half is a huge mental win. That’s the kind of mental toughness being an underdog gets you.
“Now, fighting is what we do.”
This fall, Southern learned it could keep up with the big teams in the county when it stayed within three goals against South River and played Broadneck tough on both ends of the field despite a lopsided final score. These things, too, were unheard of even a couple seasons ago, Gray said.
Not only are the Bulldogs learning how to compete, but actually enjoying themselves even in defeat.
“There were a lot of things we needed to work on from the [Broadneck] game,” said Ploss, who had two goals. “… Knowing that it was something we needed to work on and immediately taking that action, it helps us.”
Chesapeake, which had six corners early on, finally broke through and kicked off the scoring when Alyssa Kreuger slipped one past Southern keeper Caitlin Miller in the second quarter.
Southern did earn its first corner, but like many of Chesapeake’s, it fell victim almost immediately to a Cougars stick. And though both offenses buzzed each other’s eightyard distances like the many bees populating the sidelines on Tuesday night, it was Chesapeake that ultimately struck again.
Attack Addison Widmer stung the net to up the Cougars’ advantage to 2-0 before halftime.
“We just talked about everything we were doing well and the improvements we needed to make,” Ploss said. “With that, we came back super strong and ready to do our best.”
The energy was “just insane,” Ploss said, when the Bulldogs retook the field for the second half.
Junior midfielder Kate Seymour drove the ball down the sidelines with a fury, dishing a pass into a fray of Bulldogs that Ploss picked up and scored to make it 2-1.
Moments later, Southern pulled a corner. Chesapeake blocked the shot off the insert — a lucky break that died immediately when Ploss got a hold of it and netted the tying goal.
“She has been working really hard in practice to redefend after she shoots or after she passes, to play the other team back,” Gray said, “and it’s definitely paying off.”
Neither team had time to ponder how quickly a 2-0 lead became a tie game because less than a minute after Ploss’ pair of score, there was Wooster, screaming down the eight to launch her go-ahead goal.
Southern talks about its forwards being the true first line of defense, generating offense off failed attacking maneuvers from the other team. It embraced that value in the second half, pulling off quicker cuts, better communication.
“As the game went on, I think they got more comfortable and confident in themselves,” Gray said. “Once one goal went in, they realized they could keep going and keep doing it.”
Southern’s defense, which had already given Chesapeake trouble in the first half, doubled down in the second. New goalkeeper Addie Jones made huge saves and defenders redirected the course of the ball back to Southern’s advantage.
Had Southern not competed and lost against Broadneck a day earlier, Gray said, there might’ve been a different outcome. The defense and coaches spoke on improvements before Tuesday night.
“They trusted what each other was saying and used each other to cover space better, pressure the ball more so they didn’t get off those big shots,” Gray said. “They’d try to get a reverse chip or hit it hard and [our] sticks were in their shooting space, which really rattled Chesapeake and didn’t let them play the game they wanted to play.
“Once they saw we could stop them, [we] had the confidence to carry it out.”