Covenant and Carlisle’s boys soccer teams may have a series of new faces, but that did little to take the venom out of the two schools’ boys soccer rivalry Friday afternoon.
In an intense, physical clash that was a rematch of last year’s state final, the defending state champion Covenant squad came out on top once again, winning 2-1 to move to 6-1 on the year.
The victory capped a challenging week for the Eagles who fell to North Cross on Tuesday and beat Hargrave 5-1 on Wednesday.
“Against the better teams on our schedule I tell my guys that you better make the most of your chances,” said Covenant coach Bryan Verbrugge. “I felt like we had the better of the play and the more dangerous opportunities.”
The Eagles had to fight back against the Indians as Carlisle jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Cater James goal, but it didn’t take long. Covenant countered a little more than a minute later, completing a set piece with Brandon de Jong finishing the job.
“It was great to see a quick near-post header goal,” Verbrugge said. “We’ve been working on trying to get a good service. I felt like our corner kicks and set pieces really got us some good chances today.”
The Eagles then struck again with 33 minutes left in the second half, when Michael Colberg struck to give Covenant a 2-1 advantage. From there the Eagles’ defense stepped up in a big way, with goalie Jonathan Whyte coming up with a series of saves in the closing minutes as Carlisle put on an all-out assault to try and find the equalizer.
Like any squad this early in the year, Covenant is still trying to find the right fit with some new key cogs in the lineup, but yesterday was a big step in the right direction for the Eagles.
“It’s been a rough week with North Cross and Hargrave and Carlisle,” Verbrugge said. “We came ready to play today and hopefully this’ll build confidence in the future, knowing we can play at a really high level.”
Covenant gets a short break before heading south to take on Fork Union Military Academy Thursday.
