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Osbourn Park juniors Jessica Lowman and Jackie Moore never played a high school field hockey game when they decided to sign up for the Yellow Jackets’ field hockey squad this season. Head coach Kate Thomas couldn’t be happier with that decision after both played key roles in the Yellow Jackets’ 3-0 victory over Woodbridge on Tuesday afternoon in the Northwest Region tournament semifinals.
Four days after scoring the game-winning goal against Liberty in the Cedar Run District finals, Lowman scored the Yellow Jackets’ third goal of the game against Woodbridge to put the game out of reach. In goal, Moore provided six saves and recorded her second shutout during the postseason.
“She has come a long way from not ever having stepped into a goal,” said Thomas of Moore.
As for Lowman, Thomas calls her “a gift that fell out of the air.”
Both players have contributed to an impressive second-half resurgence by the Yellow Jackets, who finished the regular season with a .500 record before upsetting the second-seeded Bobcats in the Cedar Run District tournament semifinals and pulling out an overtime victory over Liberty in the championship game.
Despite the their solid play, Thomas was nervous that her squad would come out flat against the Vikings.
“That happens to so many teams, they play outrageous and then that next game they are a little bit flat,” said Thomas.
Luckily for the Yellow Jackets, the opposite happened.
Lauren Stewart, who scored the Yellow Jackets’ first goal against Liberty four days earlier, quickly got Osbourn Park on the board with an arching shot over the outstretched stick of Woodbridge goalkeeper Ashley Stead to put the Yellow Jackets up 1-0 early in the contest.
“I call her my loaded gun in there. When she winds up and hits the ball, everybody wants to get out of the way,” said Thomas of Stewart.
The Yellow Jackets increased their lead in the second half on a goal by sophomore Becca Heck, who poked the ball past Stead during a penalty corner to give Osbourn Park a 2-0 lead. Seconds later, Lowman provided the clincher with a hard shot past a diving Stead to give the Yellow Jackets the 3-0 advantage.
“After we got the second one, we just wanted more,” said Stewart.
The win sends the Yellow Jackets to their second consecutive Northwest Region semifinals.
“We are realizing that we can do this and that we are good enough and that we deserve what we have gotten this year,” said Stewart.
Added Moore: “We are working as a team. When we work as a team, we can do the impossible.”
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