Northern Virginia Majestics get first goals, win of 2009 W-League

Stephanie Hylton surveyed the field in front of her and calculated how far the soccer ball had to travel in the air to reach the back of the net.
She is very meticulous that way.

The Northern Virginia Majestics midfielder has a certain knack for placing a pass in just the right spot.

Hylton’s entire career has been built around creating scoring opportunities for her teammates.

But with the Majestics trailing on Sunday night and the team’s season-opening scoreless streak having surpassed 330 minutes, she settled the ball for a direct kick and then angled a shot across the goal box and inside the left post to spark a 2-1 comeback victory over Richmond Kickers Destiny at Hellwig Memorial Stadium.

“I just wanted to finish it. I was definitely shooting it. I just tried to keep it a little low — low and hard with a little spin on it,” said Hylton, who led Lake Braddock to the 2006 Group AAA state championship before starring last fall as a redshirt freshman at Virginia Tech.

“I’m not really accustomed to scoring. I’m usually the girl who assists a lot,” she said. “I like to give balls to forwards running on, but it was nice to get a shot off.”

In her first collegiate season, Hylton helped Virginia Tech reach the ACC championship game and earn an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament. On Sunday, she provided the morale boost a young attack line so desperately needed with a 61st minute goal and then speedy reserve forward Jasmine Riley clinched the Majestics’ first victory of the club season with a breakaway in the 84th minute.

“All we talked about was trying to get a goal,” Riley said. “This is the fourth game and we’re starting to get to know each other a little bit so to kill two birds with one stone — get the win and a couple of goals in the back of the net — feels pretty nice.”

Blessed with more pure quickness than perhaps any player on the Majestics’ U23 squad, Riley is known throughout the soccer world as a finisher.

A one or two-step advantage is all she needs to create a scoring opportunity and, after entering the game in the 67th minute, she quickly punched two shots just over the crossbar before taking a pass from Mary Casey and converting it into the game-winner with nine minutes remaining.

“I thought I was going to get called for offsides. I looked at the defender and I was right there beside her. But I didn’t see the flag go up and everybody was yelling, ‘go, go.’ So I just turned it on,” said Riley, a Wakefield High School grad who played two seasons at Division II Mars Hill before finishing her collegiate career at Virginia Commonwealth University last fall.

The Majestics (1-3-0) dominated play from the opening possession, when Radford University’s Ashley Johnson pinged a shot off the left post. They combined for 15 shots with Hylton, Riley and George Mason University’s Kimmy Moss providing three each, but trailed 1-0 at halftime thanks to a quick strike from Richmond’s Jess Varela at the 43 minute mark on the Kickers’ second shot of the day.

“At halftime I told the team to be patient, that we were going to get one,” Hylton said. “We had a lot of great opportunities and we finished two important ones.”

Heading into their second home game of the season, the Majestics had been outscored 6-0 in losses to Hampton Roads, Tampa Bay and Cary. They put the scoreless streak and the winless streak behind them on Sunday with a promising performance that also featured 90 minutes of terrific defense from University of Maryland teammates Megan Watson and Colleen Deegan as well as VCU’s Brittain Maas and Casey, who starts in goal for the Terrapins during the fall. 

“I think there is so much potential here,” Hylton said, still calculating odds after the match. “Once we get to know each other and how we play we can really make things happen.”

The Majestics return home next Saturday, June 13th, to face the Atlanta Silverbacks at Hellwig Memorial Field in Manassas, Virginia. Match time is scheduled for 6:00PM.