Last year, the Titans made it to the state title game, but ultimately fell to Norfolk Academy.
“After the state final last year, Abby and I looked at each other and said we would never lose another high school field hockey game again,” recalled Sally Snead ’19.
Head Coach Margie Vaughan Snead ’85 also remembered that game and her skepticism at the time. “I just thought… We’re never going to make mistakes?” she recalled. “We’re never going to have a bad game? Or a bad day? But, oh my God, they did it.”
True to their vow, the team went on to sweep the competition with a perfect season this fall. The team went 23-0 for the season, outscoring their opponents 99-4, claiming their fifth straight LIS title and making their fifth straight appearance in the VISAA state tournament, where, incredibly, they did not allow a single goal.
For the second time in the school’s history, they won the VISAA State Championship, defeating Collegiate 3-0 at the Evergreen SportsPlex in Leesburg.
On top of all the team honors, several Titans were recognized individually. Four players received All-LIS, All-State and All-Metro 1st team honors: Abby English ’19, Erika Latta ’19, Cori Nichols ’20, and Sally Snead ’19. Mollie Schuma ’20 earned All-Metro 2nd-team honors. Additionally, Latta was named the LIS player of the year and the VISAA player of the year. Snead was named the All-Metro player of the year. Coach Margie Snead was named LIS coach of the year.
“I couldn’t have dreamed of a better season,” Sally Snead said, “the team was a group of 21 sisters.”
Coach Snead’s second VISAA state championship came just three years after her first, when her older daughter, Annie, was a senior and her youngest, Sally, was a freshman.
In a final moment of celebration, the field hockey team stood in front of a packed gym to receive the state championship banner during half time of a boys basketball game. The presentation was made even more memorable when the 2015 state championship team
surprised Coach Snead by carrying the 2018 banner to mid-court.
Next year, Margie will watch her daughters play together again her alma mater, William & Mary. English and Latta will also
continue their field hockey careers at Georgetown and University of Richmond, respectively. Next year, these three seniors will join 16 other Titans playing field hockey at the collegiate level.
Read more about this historic season of field hockey from the below Times-Dispatch articles: