It wasn’t a typical Monday match for Charlottesville girls soccer coach Fernando Opere and the Black Knights.
Several key members of the squad got back from a spring break school trip to Europe and were battling jet lag. The rest of Opere’s squad hadn’t even played a game since April 1. But one of his jetsetters, Zoe Ackerman, knew Charlottesville was going to be okay early on — even if she knew she was going to feel the effects later.
“Ellen (Buckley), Ellie (Von Sotorch) and I got back last night at 7 o’clock and we’re operating on probably zero hours so I’m waiting to crash,” Ackerman said. “But right before the game, we were playing ‘posession’ I could tell people had been running and people were on the ball. And it showed during the game, we fought for every 50/50 ball.”
The Black Knights eked out a 1-0 victory over Western Albemarle when, off a cross from Julia Bray, freshman midfielder Althea Pickering managed to nudge the ball past Western goalie Lexy Eckerle, who’d slid into Pickering to try and collect the ball.
“I thought (Eckerle) was going to get it but I just kind of barely touched it in,” Pickering said. “It was messy.”
But it was enough for the Black Knights, though it was heartbreaking for Western Albemarle. The Warriors withstood an incredible onslaught in the first 20 minutes of the game by Charlottesville as Eckerle came up with several diving saves and quickly earned the respect of the Black Knights. Pickering explained that Eckerle was the best keeper she’d faced so far.
But a combination of experience in the midfield and youth and talent up front steadied Charlottesville. While Pickering got the goal, she wasn’t the only ninth grader coming up with plays. Abigail Intolubbe-Chmil kept the pressure on Western all game at striker for the Black Knights.
“That’s the lucky thing with this team, there are always a bunch of freshman who are really talented coming in,” said CHS coach Fernando Opere. “Althea is an exceptional player and also Abigail, my striker, has so much power.”
The Black Knights got a sterling performance from their own goalie, Emily Thomas, including a critical save on a strong run by Western’s Katie Farina during the second half. Farina tried to push the ball to the left post and Brown got enough of a hand on it to force it out of bounds.
The Warriors have been snakebitten a bit to start the season, having surrendered a tie against Fluvanna County that should have probably been a victory before a Fluco goal on a nearly indefensible crossing pass with three minutes left. The Warriors’ second half was an impressive one after the slow start in the first half that allowed Charlottesville to dictate the style of play. If Western can maintain that level of play, they’ll be a major factor in the Jefferson District race.
“I told them ‘if you give that to me the next game we will have a great season, but we can’t do it for you. Just forget about the first half’,” said Western coach Lesley Gourdet.
Charlottesville hosts Louisa Thursday night while Western takes on a talented Collegiate squad Wednesday before jumping back into Jefferson District play Thursday against Monticello.
