Eastern Region field hockey semifinals

The first semifinal featured The Battle of the Cavaliers, Princess Anne and Lakeland. P.A. expanded its 1-0 halftime lead early in the second half as Torrie Jackson scored to give the Lady Cavs a 2-0 lead.
Moments later, the Southeastern champs cut P.A.'s lead in half, off a corner, Alyssa Chirico re-directed a shot from Kelsey Smither to slice P.A.'s lead to 2-1.
But the Beach regular season winners regained the two goal advantage late in the half as Maartje Van Rijswijk scored her second goal of the game as Princess Anne earned a 3-1 win to improve to 16-2 while Lakeland's season ends at 17-3.
In the second semifinal, two-time reigning state champion Cox had several chances to score early against Eastern District champion Maury, but were stopped by a pair of shots hitting the post.
The Falcons finally got on the board with just under nine minutes to go in the first half as Cara Witte scored off a Kelsey Rosenmeier feed for a 1-0 lead. The Commodores gained the equalizer four minutes later as Tollie Bell converted on an Ashby Lee pass tying the game at 1-1 at the break.
Cox broke the game wide open midway in the second half, scoring four goals in an eight minute span. Witte scored her second goal for a 2-1 lead, Casey Dinardo scored minutes later to make it 3-1, Witte completing the hat trick with her third goal of the game making it 4-1 and Dinardo completed the scoring frenzy making the final score 5-1.
Cox dominated the game, outshooting the Commodores 25-5 and holding a 16-4 edge on penalty corners.
Maury's season ends at 18-2 while Cox improves to 19-2.
Cox and Princess Anne have punched their tickets to next week's state tournament and will square off Friday for the region title, their fourth matchup this season. The Falcons hold a 2-1 season edge, including a win in the district final.
Both schools have combined to win 21 region titles, 16 for Cox, five for P.A.
The state field hockey championship tournament takes place next Thursday thru Saturday, also at the National Training Center in Virginia Beach. The Eastern Region champion will face the Northwest Region runner-up next Thursday at 1pm, followed by the Eastern Region runner-up versus the Northwest champion at 3pm.