Southeast VA Girls Rankings and Tournament Previews

Regional Playoffs begin Wednesday May 25th with two teams from each region moving on to the VHSL state tournaments. Region 6A: Perennial powerhouse No. 1 west seed Cosby looks for a return to the state tournament after bowing out in semifinals in 2021. The Titans went a perfect 16-0-0 and posted 11 clean sheets. No. 1 east seed Kellam will look to avenge last year’s loss to Cosby in the region final with a young squad that has 8 of 11 starters who are either freshman or sophomores. The Knights attack is led by Ava Chuderewicz and her twin Allysa Chuderewicz in the midfield with Lauren Crowley and Chloe Limbach up top. The defense is anchored by senior Abby Pesut along with Lilly Turner, Dylan McEntarfer and Brook Owens. The keeper duties have been split all season between Kylie Cass and Anna Wise and it will be interesting to see if Coach Mario Hurdle continues this tactic in the postseason. The Knights had an amazing 12 shutouts and only conceded to 2021 Class 5 state champion First Colonial in their only loss. Other starters include the versatile Avery Spell, Abbie Smith, and Cameron Devera. Other teams to watch include Grassfield (10-4-1) who have not suffered a loss since a 1-0 setback to Kellam way back on April 4th and Ocean Lakes’ (8-4-2) who’s losses have all been to top five ranked teams. Ocean Lakes also holds an early season win over Grassfield. Ocean Lakes and Grassfield face off in the quarterfinals. No. 4 seed Western Branch (11-4-1) cannot be ruled out as they played tight games with both Kellam and Grassfield during the season but came away with 1-0 defeats both times. Region 5A: No. 1 seed and No. 1 overall in the 757, First Colonial has been at the top all season and their only loss came against 2021 Class 6 state champion South County back in March. The Patriots are led on the attacking side by senior Karleigh Minson (24 goals/11 asst), (10g/8a), and Skylar Miller (8g/6a). Charlotte Burge has been a steady force in goal allowing only six goals on the year. Protecting Burge in the back are Maddie Kainer, Cami Minson, Juliann Rink, and Katie Royle. Rounding out the starters are Keaveny Dull, Macie Mugler, and Joryn Wold. First Colonial has been to four straight VHSL state tournaments winning it all in 2021 and 2018. The Cox Falcons earned the No. 2 seed by turning in an impressive resume at 12-3-1 while their only losses were to First Colonial and Kellam (twice). They have a balanced attack with goals coming from Ema Christian, Caroline Blanchard, Madison Blanchard, Makiah Correa, and Niamh McLeod. Star center back will lead a stout defense that only gave up 10 goals in 14 games in front of keeper Kate Hobbs. Other key players to Cox’s overall success are Delaney Hood, Aniyah Fraser, Kirklyn Wilson, Sara Twisdale, and Ireland Rich. No. 3 seed Hickory Hawks will look to get through the quarterfinals and have a rematch with Cox who defeated them 2-0 earlier in the year. The Hawks bring an experienced team to the tournament and have six seniors who have plenty of post-season experience. Seniors Olivia Trotter (M), Jenna Brinkley (D), Kam Harness (M/D), Megan Dewees (D), Jess Michalski (M), and Molly Westerman (M) were all freshman when Hickory last made the state tournament in 2019. Princess Anne is the No. 4 seed after going 10-5-0 but do not have any wins against any currently ranked teams. Their best win was 7-0 over Landstown in the last week of the season. Region 5B: The Menchville Monarchs made a historic run last year all the way to the VHSL class 4 final but came up short in their bid for a championship. This season, Menchville competes as a class 5 school but Sydney Robertson, Zoe Villarreal, and company are here to run it back and give it another shot. Their 13-1-1 record was nearly flawless but a mid season loss to Gloucester and draw against York seemed to refocus the team and they finished the year with five straight wins. Heading into the last night of the regular season the Monarchs are the only team to beat Smithfield and Lafayette who are both No. 1 seeds in their respective regions. Anything but a return to states would be a disappointment to the Monarchs. No. 2 Gloucester has bowed out the regional tournament in the quarterfinals the past three seasons and had not won more than eight games in a season. Welcome to 2022 where the Dukes put up 13 wins against just two losses. Two early season setbacks to Lafayette and York put them below the radar as they then proceeded to run off 12 straight wins! The biggest surprise came when they knocked off unbeaten Menchville 3-0 and then beat West Point (11-2-0) 4-2 who was a VHSL class 1 finalist in 2021.The Dukes are primed for a run at states! No. 3 seed Granby posted up a great record at 12-4-0 but failed to beat a ranked team. A 2-1 loss to rival Maury may have been their best game of the year and they will need a solid effort to get past No. 6 seed Kecoughtan (7-5-1) in the quarterfinals with Gloucester awaiting the winner. The Maury Commodores (8-4-2) look to regain their form when they went to the class 5 state tournament in both 2017 and 2018. I believe the Commodores could sneak up on No. 1 seed Menchville in the semifinals as all of Maury’s losses came in close games versus ranked opponents and their draws came against Hickory and Nansemond River who are both quality sides. Region 4A: This feels like the most wide-open region in the 757 with five different teams posting at least nine wins. Sitting at the top is No. 1 seed Smithfield at 14-1-0 with their only loss coming to region 5B No. 1 seed Menchville who also beat the Packers in last year’s region final to keep them from returning to the state tournament for the first time since 1018. The Packers are loaded on the attacking side and are as dangerous as anyone in the 757 getting goals from a multitude of players including Katie Lutz, Bri Curro, and Kaitlyn Worrell. Keeper posted an amazing 12 clean sheets with the help of defenders/midfielders Natalee Jones and . No. 2 seed Great Bridge (11-3-1) burst onto the scene this season after not having a winning campaign for the past three seasons. Sensational freshman forward Audrey Orrock has been unstoppable all year and looks to continue her goal scoring into the post season. The Wildcat’s only losses came to ranked teams and they were the only team to beat region 5B Nansemond River. Junior captain Hannah Zayicek leads this young squad that has no senior starters. The Jamestown Eagles (12-3-1) grab the No. 3 seed and are in familiar territory as a high seed in region 4A having made trips to the state tournament from 2017-2019. If all goes as planned a semifinal match against Great Bridge will have high stakes and trip to states on the line. Filling out the other top seeds are the No. 4 Deep Creek Hornets (10-5-0) and No. 5 Warhill Lions (9-5-0) who will square off in the quarters for a shot at Smithfield in the semifinals. Region 3A: It will take a major upset of one of the top 2 seeds for anyone else to make it the state tournament. No. 1 seed Lafayette’s (12-2-0) only two losses came to region 4A No. 1 seed Smithfield and 5B No. 1 seed Menchville. The Rams posted impressive wins over Gloucester, York, and Jamestown enroute to a second-place finish in the very competitive Bay Rivers district. Keeper Eva Fields posted seven shutouts while forward found the back of the net an amazing 27 times while adding 15 assists. Alexis King and Sydney King both scored 10 goals apiece while Taylor Walker had 10 assists. No. 2 seed York started the year 9-0-1 before stumbling a bit down the stretch against 4A power Smithfield, Warhill, and 3A top seed Lafayette. York still finished the season 11-3-2 and will look to make a return to states for the first time since 2018. The Falcons had a very balanced attack this season led by with nine goals while Jenny Calderon and each added eight. In goal, put up 11 clean sheets in front of a stout defense that only gave up nine goals all season. Region 2A: Poquoson finished the season at 5-10-0 but their strength of schedule boosted up their power ranking enough to get the No. 1 seed. The Islanders have qualified for the state tournament the past three seasons and look to get that elusive win in the state tournament. Poquoson has a bye into the semifinals and only needs one win for a return trip to states. No. 2 seed Bruton went 5-8-1 and will advance if they can hold serve. Bruton takes on No. 7 seed Arcadia from the Eastern Shore in the quarterfinals. No. 3 seed Nandua (6-3-0) is a bit of an unknown playing a limited schedule against only six different teams. Region 1A: 1A is looking like a two-team race to states with No. 1 seed West Point (11-2-0) who was a state finalist in 2021 and No. 2 seed Northampton from the Eastern Shore. Northampton lost to West Point in the region final in 2021.

Rank	School	Record (W-L-D)	Region	Best Results
1	First Colonial	12-1-1	5A	#2 Kellam 2-1 #5 Cox 2-1
2	Kellam	13-1-0	6A East	#5 Cox 2-0 #7 Grassfield 1-2
3	Menchville	13-1-1	5B	#4 Smithfield 4-1 #6 Lafayette 5-4
4	Smithfield	14-1-0	4A	#6 Lafayette 2-0 #10 York 3-0
5	Cox	12-3-1	5A	#7 Grassfield 1-0 #8 Norfolk Academy 2-1
6	Lafayette	12-2-0	3A	#9 Gloucester 9-2 #11 Jamestown 2-0
7	Grassfield	10-4-1	6A	#16 Western Branch 1-0 #18 Great Bridge 1-0
8	Norfolk Academy	15-5-0	TCIS	VISAA D1 Finalist!
9	Gloucester	13-2-0	5B	#3 Menchville 3-0 Woodside 7-1
10	York	11-3-2	3A	#9 Gloucester 3-2 #13 Hickory 3-0
11	Jamestown	11-3-1	4A	#10 York 0-0 draw Warhill 3-0
12	Norfolk Collegiate	11-4-1	TCIS	TCIS CHAMPION!
13	Hickory	9-3-2	5A	#7 Grassfield 1-1 draw #16 Western Branch 1-0
14	Catholic	13-4-0	TCIS	VISAA Semifinalist
15	Ocean Lakes	8-4-2	6A East	#7 Grassfield 2-0 #19 Princess Anne 3-2
16	Western Branch	11-4-1	6A East	#19 Princess Anne 4-1 #20 Nans River 1-1 draw
17	Cape Henry Collegiate	11-7-0	TCIS	TCIS Finalist
18	Great Bridge	11-3-1	4A	#13 Hickory 2-1 #20 Nansemond River 3-1
19	Princess Anne	10-5-0	5A	Maury 3-0 Landstown 7-0
20	Nansemond River	5-9-2	5B	#16 Western Branch and Maury 1-1 draws