By Luke Nadkarni / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
In the first meeting between Charlottesville and Albemarle’s boys soccer teams, the Black Knights and Patriots played to a 3-3 tie on CHS’ home field.
On Thursday night, however, there was no such doubt as to which team got the better of the battle between traditional local powers as the Patriots cruised to a 4-0 victory on a rainy night behind yet another brilliant performance from do-everything senior Marcel Berry. Berry registered two goals and a pair of assists in the romp.
“Coach wanted us to come out firing tonight since we tied them the last time we played,” Berry said.
Albemarle drew first blood in the 15th minute when Berry used his lightning quickness to execute a perfect give-and-go with teammate Jesus Duran. Berry delivered a pass to Duran, who tapped it through the Charlottesville defense just as quickly and Berry scooped it up, using some fancy footwork on the soggy field to beat CHS keeper Carter Kitchin to give the Patriots a 1-0 lead.
“It was slippery and really tough to play,” Berry said. “It’s all about just getting a good first touch on the ball.”
Berry struck again eight minutes later, taking a long through-ball from Brendan Moyers all the way, doubling his team’s lead. But the William and Mary signee wasn’t done.
Two minutes after his second goal, Berry returned the favor by feeding Moyers an assist of his own. Moyers found himself all alone in the box and wasted no time in pushing the Patriots lead to 3-0 with the game barely 25 minutes old.
“Charlottesville’s a great team, we were looking forward to playing them again,” AHS head coach Jeff Balnave said. “We left some opportunities on the field when we first played them, we had some mistakes on defense, and we were looking forward to redemption.”
The score remained that way until 10 minutes remained in the game, with the result well in hand. That didn’t stop Berry from continuing his brilliant play. The senior dribbled deep in the box behind the Black Knight defense and found freshman Andrew Weber, who kicked across his body to beat a diving Kitchin for the final margin.
Charlottesville couldn’t muster much offensively, registering just three shots on goal to Albemarle’s seven. Its best chance came in the 64th minute when Mica Girstantas streaked down the right sideline and got off an angled shot, but Alex Grant was there for the save.
Albemarle travels to Monticello on Monday for its next game. Charlottesville returns to action at home against Fluvanna on the same night.
