On Thursday night, the Monticello Boys soccer team hosted the unbeaten Black Knights of Charlottesville in a tough, physical matchup, hard fought until the very end.
In fact, it never really got a chance to resolve itself, as a lightning delay prevented the usual two five-minute overtimes to potentially break a 2-2 deadlock at the end of regulation.
“Our effort was great, we kept playing until the end, and both teams deserved to win,” said Mustangs coach David Rivera. “My guys played fantastic tonight, we would’ve loved to win but we played fantastic.”
In the first half there was a lot of back and forth play with both teams playing great defense. Charlottesville had a few chances throughout the half between possessions and corner kicks, and just weren’t able to convert. Monticello goalie Jason Armstrong had a huge game for his team, amassing a series of stops, including two key saves in the first half to keep the Black Knights off the board.
Then with 3:36 left in the first half, it was the Mustangs who found a way to score first, on a goal from William Acgtblu to go up 1-0, giving Monticello a 1-0 lead.
“Monticello’s a really good team, and they had a chance in the first half and took advantage of it, and we let some chances go,” said Charlottesville coach Martín Braun. “I was pleased with the effort our guys gave throughout the game, but frustrated with the result, we have a lot to work on but thankful that we get to play next week.”
The second half started and it didn’t take long for Charlottesville to get on the board. With 30:06 left, a Malcolm Brickhouse corner kick found Lucas Fuller, who found the back of the net to tie the game. The Black Knights and Brickhouse didn’t stop pressing, as about 90 seconds later, a free kick from Brickhouse resulted in an own goal committed by the Mustangs to give his Charlottesville a 2-1 lead. From that moment, it seemed like the Black Knights were about to take full control of the game.
But the Mustangs kept fighting, playing great defense to keep it a one goal game. And once they had a good offensive possession later in the half, it helped to send Acgtblu to a penalty kick. Charlottesville keeper Jacob Engel had no intention of letting that be the equalizer, saving the first try before a violation allowed Acgtblu a second try at a kick. Engel locked in again, and came up with another huge stop on a horizontal dive to his left, keeping his team in front with about 15 minutes to play.
The game went back and forth a little while longer, before the Mustangs knew they were running out of chances and had to really make a push. In the final minutes, they were able to make that push, and a big pass into a crowd of players in the box found the head of Hugo Marquez, who found the back of the net, tying the game at 2-2 just before the end of regulation.
Unfortunately, that is where the score stayed, as mother nature stole the show from the two squads giving it their all with an ill-timed lightning delay right at 9 p.m. that gave way to a thunderstorm 10 minutes later.
After this, both teams will turn their attention to the Region 3C soccer tournament next week.
