By Liz Keller/Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
PALMYRA — Fluvanna County’s girls soccer team bounced back in a big way on Thursday.
The Flucos, coming off a loss to Charlottesville in their regular-season finale, dispatched William Monroe 3-0 on senior night in the quarterfinals of the Jefferson District tournament.
Fluvanna got a pair of goals from junior Melissa Messier in the victory.
“Melissa’s a terrific player. She plays center mid for us, and the last four or five games I moved her and Tyler Drake up top and they’ve been working really well off each other,” said Fluvanna coach Tara Garcia. “She has great speed, great foot skills and a great shot. She’s a very dangerous player and then when you put Tyler up there with her, in my mind, that’s two of the best players in the Jefferson District playing attack.”
Messier, who sported bright yellow cleats, notched the opening goal early on, off a nifty pass from Drake. The Flucos (11-4-2) kept the momentum going as they scored several minutes later on a penalty kick from Sarah Duffau, and led 2-0 at halftime.
Messier added her second goal at the 27:28 mark in the second half, as she made a move around William Monroe’s Summer Tarpley and placed the ball in the corner of the net to pad the lead.
The Flucos had several other opportunities to score, but Monroe’s Meghan White came up with some stops down the stretch. The senior finished with 20 saves.
William Monroe coach John Burks was pleased with his team’s defense, especially on Drake, who is headed to Radford to play soccer.
“We definitely prepared to try to shut down No. 7, because she’s a great player. We were trying to get her frustrated,” said Burks, the Dragons’ second-year coach. “She assisted the goals, but it’s going to happen. They’re a really good team — the top four teams in our district can go either way.”
William Monroe (5-10) made great strides this season, recording its highest ever finish (fifth) in the district. The Dragons’ accomplishments didn’t go unnoticed.
“That program has increased by leaps and bounds. We knew coming into this game it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park,” Garcia said. “They have become so much better as a team. Their coach is in his second year and there was a difference in them last year and there’s a difference in them this year. He’s doing a great job with that program.”
Fluvanna advances to the tournament semifinals Tuesday against Charlottesville, a winner over Louisa County in the first round. The game will be played at Monticello at 5 p.m.
The Flucos hope to use the win as momentum heading into their rematch with the Black Knights.
“We knew this was a big game for us because we wanted a definite win to prove to the rest of the district that we’re ready,” Messier said. “We really want to go as far as we can. We know we have a young team, but in that we also have a lot of potential, and we want to see how far we can go with it.”
