Charlottesville’s boys soccer team has some seniors who remember 2017. Few ever forget a loss in the state title match.
But it’s not redemption that the Black Knights have on their mind. It’s not the past. Clinching a state tournament berth is about what this edition of the Black Knights is capable of doing. It’s about this team, this year. The here and now.
“This is a way different group, we have a different mindset,” said Charlottesville’s Kyle Lehnert. “We put all that stuff two years ago away — this is a different team.”
Lehnert scored twice Tuesday night as the Black Knights clinched a state tournament berth with a 4-0 victory over Liberty Christian Academy in the Region 4D semifinals. The victory sets up a region title clash at Charlottesville Thursday against Blacksburg and vaults the Black Knights into the Class 4 state tournament.
“This is the first step to go to states and now we just have to win it,” said Charlottesville senior Adam Moreland.
Lehnert struck first by cashing in early on a penalty kick, putting the Black Knights up 1-0 with 27 minutes left in the first half. His second made it 4-0 Black Knights when Joe von Storch crossed the ball to Ayat Mohamed who moved it to Lehnert who headed it in with under three minutes to play. It was an exclamation point on the win, but the Black Knights had taken the lead in the game early and looked in control throughout.
“Our coach always says we want early goals because we like to possess, we like to wear out other teams,” Lehnert said. “When we get an early one, we really get in their heads. We just put them away early.”
That aggressiveness is born in experience. The Black Knights have seen their fair share of hard fought games slip away over the past few years, and their seasoned lineup is aware of the kind of attacking mentality the playoffs require. It helps of course that they’ve also got a midfield that was completely locked in defensively and helped maintain possession throughout the contest with Moreland playing a big role. LCA got few chances as runs were regularly snuffed out near midfield.
“We have a great group of guys in there, Benhui (Ryang) played really well, Malcolm (Brickhouse) played really well,” Moreland said. “We were sharing the ball, passing it around and giving our forwards opportunities.”
The Black Knights’ other two goals came in the second half, with von Storch unleashing a strike to make it 2-0 with 30 minutes left before Benhui Ryang made it 3-0 with 12:30 left to play. The second goal confirmed what was already clear — the score may have been 1-0, but the Black Knights were in complete control. A slew of runs by von Storch, Lehnert and Mohamed had been rejected by LCA keeper Camden Coleman, who was tremendous throughout, making diving stop after diving stop. Still, it was only a matter of time before the Black Knights could start stacking up goals.
“It’s a great combination of players, I think we’re way more together as a team and we play better,” Lehnert said. “All my four years we’ve kind of been building up to this, this great team.”
Charlottesville will host Blacksburg at 7 p.m. Thursday night in the Region 4D title match.
