In a soccer world that usually features a lot of the same programs year after year in the state tournament, Fluvanna County’s girls squad in the last week has roared to life out of the No. 8 seed in Region 3C with an absolutely wild run to keep their season alive.
They took care of business at home in the play-in. Then they upset Waynesboro in overtime in the quarterfinals. Then they beat Charlottesville in the semifinals to clinch a state tournament berth.
Now they’re going to be hosting a Class 3 state quarterfinal match.
As the Region 3C champions.
The Flucos kept their ridiculous run going Thursday night with a thrilling 5-3 victory over Liberty Christian Academy on the road, scoring relentlessly and answering every LCA counter en route to the program’s first-ever region championship.
“It feels amazing — this whole team worked so hard to get here and I’m just so proud of each and every one of us,” said Fluvanna’s Evelyn Demers.
The Flucos had to endure a weather delay to get there, sitting for an hour and a half with the score tied 1-1 with 2:42 left in the first half. Cristina Valledares had that early Fluvanna goal.
Fluvanna came roaring out of the delay, and struck in those final dangling three minutes of the first half when Maggie McWilliams struck to give the Flucos a 2-1 halftime lead. Valledares followed quickly when she notched her second goal just one minute into the second half to push the lead to 3-1 Fluvanna.
“We came out strong and we just kept scoring after that,” Valledares said. “We were playing to feet and playing like we usually do and got the job done.”
That’s where things got a little crazy.
LCA scored to cut the lead to 3-2 less than a minute later, and before that could barely get tallied on the scoreboard, Claire Barnett notched Fluvanna’s fourth goal to push the lead back out to 4-2.
“I was really just following it across from Maggie (McWilliams), she shot it and the keeper rebounded it,” Barnett said. “I just nailed it in the back of the net.”
It took LCA just a minute to answer that one, cutting the lead back to 4-3.
The match settled down slightly from there with Fluvanna looking to hold on to that one-goal lead for the road win. Finally with six minutes left, Demers scored on a brilliant run, finishing off a cross from Sydney Chipperfield. That proved to be the dagger, vaulting Fluvanna to the Region 3C championship and giving them the opportunity to host a state quarterfinal for the first time in program history.
“It feels great, it feels amazing,” Valledares said. “I love (this team) so much, I love playing with them, I love the energy with all of them, it’s just amazing.”
