From start to finish Western Albemarle made things tough on Fluvanna County in a playoff to determine the Jefferson District regular season championship and resulting Region II qualifying bid. As the Warriors defense clamped down on forward Taylor Rafaly and brought the Fluco offense to grinding hault, Western’s offense made the most of its opportunities. Forrest White couldn’t possibly have kicked his free kick any harder, much less placed it any better to break the scoreless tie, and teammate Grant Tolber’s insurance goal was more than enough to pave the way for a 2-0 Warriors victory.
“It seemed like every time we’ve played them we’ve given up goals on really good set piece or wild counterattacks,” said Western coach Paul Rittenhouse. “We knew what to expect, but we’ve defended really well in this second half of the season. We’ve had nine shutouts in the last 10 games. It’s just attack the 50-50’s and making sure we were organized because Fluvanna really penalizes teams that aren’t.”
In the first two meetings the Warriors were not able to beat the Flucos as they dropped one contest and forced a tie in another, but something was different on Tuesday. Western dominated possession of the ball and was able to severly limit Fluvanna’s quality scoring opportunities.
“Western, I thought they outhustled us for most of the game,” said Fluvanna coach Patrick Dieter. “We’ve had trouble finishing. We’ve relied on Taylor Rafaly to score for the last three years and no one else has stepped up to score goals and you can’t rely on one person. If I’m playing us, I put a couple of guys on Taylor and that’s what Western does to shut him down make someone else beat them. We’re having trouble finding that other person.”
As the Flucos go-to goal scorer, Rafaly was limited to the odd fast break but wasn’t able to break anything open in either half, and with Western keeping a heavy eye on him, nobody else was able to take advantage of the defensive shift.
Western had a slew of free kicks in the first half. Before White’s goal, the Warriors also had a pair of kicks from Ian Dusci and Tolber nearly soared over top of Fluvanna’s defense and dropped in just under the crossbar. But Fluco goalkeeper Nick Greco was able to come up with athletic saves on both occasions.
Finally in the 32nd minute White was able to absolutely uncork a line drive shot that was uncontestable into the net to put his team out in front.
“I told Hayes Fountain to run past it and pretend like he was going to kick it,” White said. “Then I just tried to drive it and hit it as hard as I could into the corner (of the net).”
It was a shot out of a cannon that sent his team’s bench into a frenzy.
Fluvanna’s biggest scoring opportunity took place moments later. With six minutes until the break, the Flucos worked the ball into the box and had a mad scramble just a few feet away from the goal line, but a slew of scoring attempts were all thwarted by Western’s defense getting in the way.
In the second half, little changed as the Warriors remained committed defensively and continued to win 50-50 battles. In the 52nd minute, Tolber took advantage of a break away opportunity on a pass from White and launched a chip shot that sailed just over Greco who was running forward, and the ball bounced right at the goal line and popped up into the top shelf of the net.
“I saw Forrest and I had space in the field so I wanted him to put it right over my shoulder,” Tolber said. “He put just the right amount of touch on it and when I looked up I saw the keeper was coming. I had to put it up and over his head.”
That was more than enough for the Warriors defense to work with, and although Fluvanna was able to finish the half with its best play of the net, Western goalkeeper Kai Shin refused to let in anything to break up his shut out.
“Kai and the three and four guys in front of them — I really think the turning point for them was when we played Fluvanna at their place and tied,” Rittenhouse said. “Kai played like a man possessed then and hasn’t looked back. He’s playing like a senior captain.
Western is now guaranteed a home game for first round of the Region II tournament. The Warriors host Goochland on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the first round of the Jefferson District tournament.
Because of its graduation this weekend, Fluvanna was forced to move up its opening game of the JD tourney from Friday to Thursday. The Flucos host Monticello at 5 p.m.
