Yorktown’s bench erupted and raced onto the field to mob Stafford at the end of the Patriots’ dramatic 3-2 season-opening win at No. 4 Fairfax. The rowdy celebration was more than just a release of joy for No. 6 Yorktown. It represented revenge.
Last year, Yorktown had to watch Fairfax lift the Virginia Class 6 championship trophy after a 1-0 defeat. Even on the polar opposite side of this fall’s schedule, motivation was easy to come by for the Patriots.
“That’s probably one of the toughest opponents out there,” Stafford said. “ … Definitely the revenge we needed to start our season.”
The winning goal was Stafford’s second of the night. Down 2-1 early in the third quarter, she cleanly picked off a pass in the middle of the field and then took on her defender before rifling a shot into the far corner to knot the score.
“She’s just a great athlete. She’s a fun person to have on our team, and obviously fun to watch. You never know what’s going to happen when she’s out there.” Yorktown Coach Olivia Shipley said of Stafford, the younger sibling of recent Patriots star Emily Stafford, who’s now at Penn.
“Taking after my sister!” Stafford added with a laugh.
While Fairfax ended up on the wrong side of a narrow result, the Lions too showcased they will again be contenders. Coach Amber Beaudoin knows her team has a large task at hand replacing her now-graduated daughter Halley, the catalyst of their offense last season. But Kaia Beaudoin (Halley’s sister), Tatum Anderson and others played with enough skill and confidence to give Fairfax optimism to start their 2023 campaign.
“For us last year, it wasn’t until we lost that I really think the team found their identity,” Amber Beaudoin said. “So now, we have the motivation. Now, I know it sounds odd, but the pendulum then swings towards us. Now we know how to play and we know what to do in order to execute a bit better.”