Albemarle girls soccer conquered Fluvanna Thursday night, beating the Flucos 3-0 to secure an undefeated season.
“For Fluvanna to come out and fight hard is really good for us, [just] to see that intensity and have that challenge going into the postseason,” coach Amy Sherrill said. “We are just thrilled to finish the regular season undefeated and head into the postseason.”
The Flucos sent out a 5-man back line to attempt to contain the attacking threat of Katie Schnell, Hannah Eiden and Leticia Freitas.
“They had five players in the back which is definitely something I think you need to do to slow us down a little bit,” Sherrill said. “We had to adjust on the fly, which is really good for us to learn how to play through adversity like that.”
The pesky Fluco defense and sure hands of keeper Jilian Stutz held the Patriots scoreless for 39 minutes and 57 seconds in the first half. However, in a last second effort off of a failed corner kick, freshman forward Makinna Winterton knocked in a turnaround lob 2.5 seconds before the end of the half.
“We had to change up our formation,” Sherrill said. “We tried to play quicker while supporting each other. [We moved] the ball wider and through the seams. Finally we found some defensive breakdowns from them and put it in the back of the net.”
Katie Schnell found the net after 15 minutes of stalemate soccer from a low cross by Eiden to widen the lead to two for Albemarle with just under 26 minutes remaining in the final match of the regular season.
As time dwindled down the match grew more physical. Fluvanna looked for a way to claw themselves to a draw on the legs of striker Lindsay Price. A nuisance for the Patriot back line, Price found ways to create chances through a solid defense.
“Lindsay [Price] is a hard worker for sure but we knew our defense, first and foremost, is rock solid,” Sherrill said. “We knew if we just played our game the rest would take care of itself.”
Albemarle heads into the postseason with the Conference 16 tournament next week.
