Oakton Comes Back to Defeat Loudoun Valley

By Jeff Nelson

Originally published at 10:34 p.m., June 5, 2008
Updated at 1:10 p.m., June 6, 2008

For a man whose team had just lost in the Virginia High School League semifinals -- and did so after having a three-goal lead in the second half -- Loudoun Valley girls' lacrosse Coach Jay Harkey remained remarkably upbeat after Thursday's game.

Whether he was talking about the Vikings' season as a whole, how close they came in a 12-10 loss to two-time defending champion Oakton or how bright the future appears to be, Harkey found reason for optimism.

"It's very tough to make it all this way and then come up short, but we did make it all this way," he said. "Of 107 teams in Virginia, we were one of the last four."

The Vikings nearly became one of the last two, but strong starts to each half were followed by costly letdowns.

Loudoun Valley, the Northwest Region runner-up, jumped out to a 5-1 lead on Oakton, the Northern Region champion. But the Vikings saw their four-goal advantage erased in the final two minutes of the first half.

Photo Gallery

State Semifinal: Loudoun Valley vs. Oakton

Photo: 0/1

« Previous | Next »

Larger Version

Oakton's Blair Keffer gets past two Loudoun Valley defenders to score in the second half of the semifinal in the Virginia State girls' lacrosse tournament. Oakton defeated Loudoun Valley 12-10. (Joel Richardson)

Larger Version

Oakton's Lauren Mathieu looks for her opening to score and come within one goal of Loudoun Valley. Oakton defeated Loudoun Valley 12-10 in the Virginia State Girls Lacrosse semifinal. (Joel Richardson)

View all thumbnails

"You grapple with, 'Do I go ahead a burn a timeout right now and tell them, 'OK, let's just suck it up and make it to the end of the half.' Or do you ride it out?" Harkey said. "I chose to ride it out and it was my mistake because [Oakton] needed to be slowed down a little bit. That's an explosive team."

Undeterred, the Vikings displayed some of their own explosiveness to start the second half. Senior Jessica Harkey scored once and sophomore Shannon Harkey scored twice to give Loudoun Valley a 9-6 lead with 14 minutes, 20 seconds remaining.

"It felt really cool," Shannon Harkey said, "to be up on Oakton by so much."

That feeling didn't last, though, as the Cougars scored six of the game's remaining seven goals.

When Coach Harkey was asked if losing a second-half lead made the outcome more difficult, he said: "No. To be honest with you, [having a lead] made it a little more fun when the game was going on."

By nearly knocking off the champs, Shannon said the Vikings proved something for the Northwest Region and themselves.

"We're not just some team from western Loudoun that can't play," she said.

And with seven sophomores and six freshmen, the Vikings are poised to remain a threat to the Northern Region's traditional powers next season.

"Now that we've come this far," Shannon said, "we have to keep going and realize we have depth, unlike a lot of teams. We can win states in [the next couple] years."

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks