Hyland's overtime goal lifts Robinson over Herndon

Maggie Hyland's game-winning goal with less than three minutes to play in overtime gave the struggling Robinson field hockey team a 1-0 road win at Herndon High School on Thursday afternoon.

With a wide-open field due to the 7-on-7 overtime format, the Rams pressured the Hornets for the first 12 minutes of the extra period before Hyland's deflection ended the game in sudden death. The goal broke a six-game losing streak and put the Rams (3-13) in a positive state of mind ahead of next week's district playoffs.

"Since we won, we get to play Centreville on Monday, and they're an easy team to beat," said Hyland, a freshman who is playing field hockey for the first time this season. "I think we're all ready for that game."

Hyland followed Nikki Aaron downfield after the Rams took over possession near midfield.

"I saw the goalie (Herndon's Alyssa Hughes) run out to her and I knew if I got on post and it hit my stick, it would count as a deflection and a goal," a giddy Hyland said. "Coach (Jennifer DePoto) has been getting on me for getting on post and I knew if I did and it got on goal, it would count, and that's what happened."

One of the officials waved off the goal, thinking Hyland had stepped over the goal line before touching the ball, but after a brief conference, they awarded the goal to Robinson.

"It was the best deflection I've seen," said DePoto, in her first year as Robinson's coach after working as the JV coach at Woodson.

The Rams endured a difficult first half, where the Hornets put plenty of pressure on goalie Ally Robins. She handled five penalty corners and six shots, but the most important play of the game for the Hornets never made it into the scorebook.

Senior forward Brittany Chinn, whose speed gave the Robinson defense fits most of the game, got loose with seconds left in the first half. She uncorked a shot from about 15 feet, and it thunked off the back of the goal just after time expired.

Chinn looked profoundly disappointed as the referee waved off the goal.

"It was after the half, but a split second after the time ran out," said Herndon coach Phyllis Pearce. "I mean, talk about bad luck. That's tough."

But it set the table for Hyland's dramatic goal, which came on the Rams' seventh shot of the final 40 minutes.

DePoto, who spent the game charging up and down the sideline yelling instructions to her players, said she had to teach the team field hockey nearly from scratch this fall.
 
"They've been through a lot this season," DePoto said about her young team that featured two freshmen, two sophomores and three juniors in the overtime. "It's a new coach, it's a new formation they've played -- one of the players had never even picked up a stick before -- so new expectations and it's a new culture for them.

It's been a season of change for them and I think they're ready to change the program."