By Luke Nadkarni/Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
One year ago, Albemarle’s girls soccer team lost in the Commonwealth District championship game in a penalty shootout.
This time around, the Patriots made sure there would be no drama.
The Patriots’ Megan Schnell and Carmen Thomas scored toward the end of each half and a solid defensive effort was enough to beat visiting Colonial Forge 2-0 and capture the district crown.
The Patriots spent much of the first half of the game on the attack, but shot after shot went just wide, over the net, or was stopped by Eagles goalie Rachel Carr.
In the waning seconds of the half, Schnell gave her team something to show for all the effort. Schnell found the back of the net off an assist from Maggie Tubridy with 16 seconds left before halftime to give Albemarle a 1-0 lead and provide a huge morale boost going into the break.
“I think that really hurt [Colonial Forge’s] momentum,” Albemarle coach Jon Hall said of Schnell’s goal. “They knew they had to climb the mountain, and it opened the door for us.”
The second half featured more even play than the first, with Colonial Forge generating more opportunities. Their best chance came in the first few minutes of the half on a free kick, but the ball careened off the crossbar and Albemarle keeper Grace Leytham made an easy save on the rebound.
The Eagles’ aggressive play ended up being their downfall. After the Patriots weathered a Colonial Forge attack, Sheila Ford took the ball down the left sideline on a counterattack as several Eagles tried to catch her. Ford lofted a cross to Thomas, who blasted a shot past Carr for an insurance goal with 7:22 remaining, effectively sealing the game.
Hall, who has made playing with intensity a point of emphasis down the stretch this season, was extremely satisfied with his team’s effort.
“You couldn’t get more intense than us tonight,” Hall said. “We wanted [the title] from the get-go.”
In the middle of Hall’s postgame talk with his team, a pair of jubilant Patriots players snuck up behind their coach and doused him, along with many of their teammates, with water from the team’s cooler.
“We’ve got one [trophy], and we need two more,” Hall said to his team after the game. “Regionals, and then states. We’re not done.”
The Patriots will return to the field when they host a Northwest Region game against an opponent to be determined.
