Western Albemarle’s visit to Charlottesville on Thursday night was anticipated as an early-season showdown of two of the top contenders for the Jefferson District girls’ soccer title. Instead, the Warriors got a big leg up on the Jefferson District with a dominant 4-0 win over the Black Knights.
By Logan Riddick / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
Starting with the wind in their favor, the Warriors controlled the ball and kept play in their offensive half for the vast majority of the opening 40 minutes. Western cracked the scoreboard at the 16:08 mark when sophomore Langlee King launched what appeared to be a centering pass from the right side, but the wind helped curl the ball into the net.
“Possession is the key against Charlottesville,” said Western coach Jacob Desch. “They like to use their athletic ability to attack, and so one of our goals was to possess. You’ve got to make them run and play defense. We were able to do that right from the start and put it on their end. With the possession and the wind, I think it took some of the steam off of them.”
Just 54 seconds later, Warriors’ senior Marina Clark added a second goal when she fired a long-range rope from 32 yards out from the left side, between the football hash marks and numbers.
“I was taking it down the sideline and my teammate played me a good ball. I took a touch inside, saw an opening and I shot it,” said Clark.
With 5:05 left in the half, Western benefited from the wind one more time when junior Sarah Grupp’s corner kick from the left found the right side of the net with no further assistance. The Warriors took a 3-0 lead into halftime and held the Knights without a shot.
“Today, the best team won, period,” said Charlottesville coach Fernando Operé. “Western is playing fantastically well. After one week of snow and one week of spring break, we have to regroup.”
Charlottesville finally forced a save with a header off a corner kick in the seventh minute of the second half. The Knights managed just one other shot. Western tallied a fourth goal with 9:56 remaining when junior Rachel Cooke launched a high shot from 25 yards out that glanced off the keeper’s fingertips.
Charlottesville will wrap its grueling first week back from spring break with a trip to Winchester on Saturday to face Handley. Western (4-1, 1-0 Jefferson), which was seeing its first action since a loss to St. Anne’s before spring break, next plays at Louisa on Monday night.
