Beach Girls Fill All-State Squad
For the past few years, it's been commonplace to see the Princess Anne and Cox field hockey squads battling it out far into the season - past the Beach District finals, past the Eastern Region games, and into state-wide competition. Cox has won roughly half of the state titles of the past 30 years, while Anne brought home the top teams of 2000, 2001, and 2004.
It's also routine to see the girls show up again a few months after the sticks and shin guards go away - players from both Virginia Beach schools typically fill the AAA All-State squads. For 2008-09, both traditions continued in abundance.
The first round of the old rivalry came on Sept. 18, when Cox edged Anne 2-1 in overtime. The Lady Cavaliers got revenge the next month, taking a 3-1 win over the Lady Falcons in a playoff for the top seed in the district tournament (the Sept. 18 loss was their only one of the regular season).
On Halloween, Cox scored a convincing win in the district tourney final, beating Anne 5-1. A week later, the Lady Falcons came up on the right side of the scoreboard again, taking a 2-1 win from the Lady Cavs for the Eastern Region title.
Now all that was left would be the state games.
"I definitely knew that Cox was our biggest competition," said Anne midfielder Chelsea Hill. "I thought we'd be seeing them in the final. It's two very competitive teams, and it just depends on who comes to play."
Just as they'd been doing all year, the Lady Falcons hoped that loads of enthusiasm would overcome lack of experience; the Cox squad was made up entirely of underclass(wo)men, making them the first team in school history to (potentially) win a state title without seniors.
"It was difficult not having any seniors, because everybody on the team looks up to them," said defender Stephanie DeMasi. "It was more of who could stay on who the most and who could keep the pressure on. We didn't want there to be a question in anyone's mind as to who the best team was."
Through the first few rounds of state, doubts kept vanishing; Anne roared past Lake Braddock and Mountain View, while Cox shut out Westfield and North Stafford. Just as they did in the 2004 final, the two Beach teams would go stick to stick for all the marbles.
After over 15 minutes of action on Nov. 15 at the National Training Center, Cara Witte put Cox ahead with just over three minutes to play in the first half. Early in the second, Kelsey Rosenmeier doubled the lead. With only a few minutes left, Witte got one more goal, and Cox's third consecutive state title (and 16th overall) was in the books. For only the second time of the season, Anne's Maartje van Rijswijk, one of America's top scorers with 34 goals, was shut out.
"It was really exciting," Rosenmeier said. "We worked really hard in practice. It felt really good to win it with no seniors on a team. It was exciting to play (Anne). They were one of the best teams we played. We worked hard."
In early February, coaches from across the state headed to Richmond's Maggie Walker Governor's School to pick the top AAA players in the state. They watched slides of girls that had helped their respective squads to the top of the state ranks, and discussed who should be ranked where. Just as with last season, Cox's Julie Swain was named the Old Dominion's top coach.
Sitting with her colleagues after the voting, head Lady Cav Denise O'Connell, herself a three-time winner, watched the reading of the top offensive and defensive players.
Back in Virginia Beach, van Rijswijk's cell phone went off. It was a text from O'Connell, letting her know that van Rijswijk had just become the third Lady Cavalier in the past five years to be voted Virginia's finest.
"I thought it was a typo or something!" said the Holland native, who also made All-State for Anne last season after spending her first two high school years at Cape Henry Collegiate. "I was surprised, but I was happy. There was some humongous talent."
Hill had made the squad for the second time, while Anne teammate Florence George made her debut.
Hill hopes to continue her field hockey career at Virginia Commonwealth, while George hasn't picked an upper school. Van Rijswijk's prowess won her a full ride to Duke University, which has made it to the Elite Eight in six of the past seven seasons
"I knew they deserved it," O'Connell said. "What these girls go through and what they dedicate is incredible. Every year, you raise your expectations a little bit, and they meet them. These ladies are never going to boast. Even after she got Player of the Year, the biggest thing that Maartje said was, 'I'd give it back for a state title.' That's how important it was to them."
The Lady Falcons put four girls on the All-State squad, more than any other team.
"There were definitely a lot of girls that deserved it," said midfielder Taylor Rhea, making her second appearance on Virginia's top squad. "I was really excited when I made it again. We all work hard and we deserve it."
She was joined by Rosenmeier, Witte, and DeMasi - and all four, as well as the rest of next year's senior class, are already thinking about one more state title.
"Next year, the whole team's going to be seniors excerpt for a few," Rosenmeier said, "so we all kind of take care of each other, and hopefully we'll win again."
