Fluvanna County was absolutely pouring it on for the last 20 minutes of the second half. A header from Nick Bianco looked destined to find the back of the net, but sailed off goal. A little later, Taylor Rafaly uncorked a beautiful shot but saw his top shelf attempt be deflected above the cross bar by Tuscarora goal keeper Adam Kight. In the closing minutes of play Ty Albaugh’s shot on the ground rolled just a foot wide left of the post. The Flucos tried just about everything to get the game tying goal, but Kight and the defense in front of him weren’t cooperative as the Huskies advanced to the Region II quarterfinals with a 1-0 win.
“We don’t have a single senior on this team and only one junior that plays, so I think we’re played without a lot of stress,” said Huskies coach Dave Gryder. “We were happy we scored first and like in any game, when you score first it puts all the pressure on the other team.”
It was evenly matched soccer game in the first half with both teams having their moments, but both defenses looking pretty solid to keep shot totals down. With just 10 total shots over the first 40 minutes — six for Fluvanna, four for Tuscarora — the Huskies managed to get the best scoring opportunities as the put three shots on net to the Flucos’ two.
Tuscarora picked up the game’s lone goal right out of the break at half time. In the 46th minute Huskies forward Indolfo Quintero put a perfect pass in front of fellow sophomore Angel Ceron-Garcia who made sure not to waste the opportunity and was able to place his shot in the top right corner of the net.
“Angel’s goal, I don’t think he could have had a better shot,” Gryder said. “That was in a spot where no one can get to it.”
Understandably, the Huskies played conservative from that point forward having grabbed the lead. In addition, at halftime Fluvanna played with a three player defensive formation allowing Abaugh to move forward to help the offense apply a little more pressure.
“We went to three in the back because our defense has been so solid all year,” said Fluvanna coach Patrick Dieter. “We knew would be fine so we moved Ty to a holding midfield position and filled a gap that we had in the first half and we got the ball under control and started possessing it a lot more.”
It didn’t go unnoticed.
“I don’t know if it was fatigue or scoring the early goal, but we got a little too defensive and they adjusted by pushing up (Abaugh) and he caused a lot more trouble for us,” Gryder said. “We saw that coming, when you’re down 1-0 you’ve got to take more chances.”
The last two minutes of the game consistent of free kicks and corner kicks for Fluvanna, but the Flucos struggled to get their shots through the defenders, much less Kight in goal.
“They had a lot going forward on us, and between the corner kicks and set pieces, Adam did an incredible job making saves and deflecting the ball,” Gryder said. “With the one goal lead, if Fluvanna ties it up the momentum shifts and who knows what happens after that.”
While Tuscarora moves on to play Park View in the next round of the Region II tournament, the high school playing days for nine Fluvanna seniors are over. This was the third straight season which the Flucos qualified for the Region II tournament, and this class was largely responsible for its back-to-back Jefferson District regular season titles in 2009 and 2010 and the schools lone JD tournament title also in 2010.
“When you lose nine seniors it’s tough,” Dieter said. “They don’t want to hear anything right now, it’s tough to talk.”
