Western boys soccer scored early and often Monday night and the Warriors picked up a key 5-1 Jefferson District victory over Charlottesville.
Western remains unbeaten in JD play and sits alone atop the district standings.
Forest White, a mainstay in the center midfield, recently moved up in the formation to play striker for the Warriors as Western continues to shuffle the lineup due to the senior Jake Lee’s injury. White provided a lot of scoring punch up top, netting two first half goals to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead at the break.
“He’s really really good and he’s surrounded by a bunch of good players so when he’s playing well up there he occupies a lot of the defenders,” said Western coach Paul Rittenhouse. “So if he gets a chance to pull the trigger that’s great but if people collapse there are a lot of other people around him. That gives us many dimensions up top.”
White also played a big role on a pair of second half goals Aidan Sinclair and Chase Stokes finishing off attacks by White. Colin Moore also had a goal after the break as Western kept Charlottesville at bay throughout the match.
Charlottesville suffered a big blow early in the match when its starting keeper Erik Quiqq went down with an injury early in the game. Jake Rounsevell-O’Conner stepped in at goalie from usual spot at center back and fought admirably, including a leaping, acrobatic save in the second half.
“He did a good job for us,” said CHS coach Stephen Cost. “I told him just after we finished you’re in the mindset of being a center defender, you’re working hard and suddenly everything changes. He made a phenomenal save down there and he stepped into a position that probably maybe one or two people on the team would take. I’ve got a huge amount of respect for that.”
The Black Knights got a goal in the second half from Cole McMahon-Gioeli but Western was in control by that point.
“We have more freshmen than ever on this team which sometimes is a good thing because we have some pace and we have some people looking to get forward,” Cost said. “But Western is organized and they’ll punish you if you step out of position.”
It was the 90th all-time meeting between the CHS and Western Albemarle boys soccer programs. It is among the longest-standing soccer rivalries in the area if not the longest-tenured one. The win extends Western’s slight advantage in the all-time series to 46-31-12.
