As soon as she stepped on the field at Christopher Newport University on Friday, the pain of the nasty tackle suffered by Lake Braddock junior Stephanie Hylton in last year’s Group AAA state final resrufaced.
Hylton had tried to play through it, but the Bruins couldn’t overcome their postseason injury bug and lost to Kellam.
Hylton wasn’t going to get hurt this weekend. Instead, the defender played flawless soccer as the Bruins dominated Eastern Region champion Cox, 3-0, for the championship on Saturday.
“It brought back so many memories. I know exactly where [the tackle] happened,” said Hylton, who got revenge on Kellam with a 2-0 win in Friday’s semifinal. “[I remember] sitting on that bench, walking up down the line. This weekend it really fueled something in me.”
The Bruins (18-5) were equally inspired on offense, where junior forward Katie Dye beat two defenders on the left side before sliding the ball to a wide-open senior Brooke Postlewaite for the first goal of Saturday’s final against the Falcons (20-2-2). When freshman Ann Marie Gambescia doubled the lead 15 minutes later, Bruins coach Liz Pike began to do something she almost never does on the sideline — enjoy herself.
“They let me relax by giving me a two-goal cushion,” said Pike, who won her second state title in four seasons with a team that began the year by losing three of its first four games. “I was like, ‘I’m having fun now.’”
Senior Kristin Bowers — who missed Lake Braddock’s final five games with a broken leg after carrying the Bruins through much of the regular season while both Dye and Hylton were sidelined with injuries — knew the state title was destined to return to Northern Virginia.
“I had never lost three games in a row with Lake Braddock,” Bowers said of the season-opening struggle. “That had never happened. But if you look at our team, at our players, I had a feeling the entire season.”
It’s been bruin
» Lake Braddock senior Leslie Cabe scored a goal in both the semifinal and final.
» After being replaced for much of the season by freshman Caitlin Landsman, senior goalkeeper Katie Froede started in both the state semifinals and final.
» The Bruins are set to reload next year, losing just Cabe, Froede, Bowers and Postlewaite to graduation.
