Soccer is officially divided into halves, but Charlottesville’s clash with visiting Liberty Christian Academy in the Conference 23 boys final might as well have been divided into thirds.
Fortunately for CHS, they won two of those three thirds in order to advance with a 4-2 win, scoring the final two goals after surrendering a pair to squander an early lead Wednesday night in a game played in a steady rain that worsened as the game went on. The Black Knights got goals from four different players, including two from Ayat Mohamed.
The Black Knights had a couple of opportunities from in close early on, but it was a long strike off the foot of Abibi Osman put CHS on the board first in the 17th minute. He used a deft first touch to control the ball and then knocked a shot off the bottom of the crossbar into the upper left corner of the net.
“We didn’t really know what to expect from LCA,” said CHS coach Stephan Cost. “We knew they were good and undefeated with a couple of ties, so we knew it would be good competition. You’ve got those butterflies and you’re working it out, and it helps to get an early goal.”
Not two minutes later, Evan Blow doubled Charlottesville’s lead when he cleaned up a mess right in front of the net after what could have been awarded as a penalty to CHS, but was not given. It was no matter, however, as Blow beat LCA keeper Dan Guiman for a 2-0 advantage.
“The ball goes faster in the rain,” Osman said. “You have to be a lot sharper to keep up.”
Then LCA’s attack woke up. The Bulldogs got a goal from Warn Lammers after he corralled a nifty through-ball in the 28th minute, however, to stay within striking distance and the Black Knights held that 2-1 advantage going into halftime.
But then LCA drew even on the unlikliest of circumstances when Sam Schubert took a corner kick and positioned it perfectly over everybody and softly into the net , making it 2-2 in the 47th minute.
However, Charlottesville continued the see-saw when Mohamed took a pinpoint-accurate cross from Osman and blasted it past Guiman to put Charlottesville back in front four minutes later.
“Abibi made a very nice cross and it bounced right to Ayat,” Cost said. “Ayat really had to do a lot of work to get that ball. It just shows you how hard we’re working.”
The rain intensified as the second half progressed, with neither team threatening the goal despite back-and-forth possession. That changed when Campbell Brickhouse sent a shot not unlike Osman’s past Guiman for a 4-2 lead with 10 minutes remaining to make things a little less stressful for the Black Knights. Mohamed put the icing on the cake by finishing into a wide-open net with two minutes left.
For the game, Charlottesville outshot LCA 9-3 with each team earning four corners.
Charlottesville earns a first-round bye in the Region 4A West tournament and returns to action Monday night against an opponent to be determined.
