Blue Ridge’s boys soccer team apparently just needed some strong words.
“I screamed at them,” said Barons head coach Matthew Bennett with a laugh. “I told them if you can’t get back on defense you can’t stay on the field. I just had to yell at them I think.”
The Barons exploded out of the gate in the second half and notched a pair of early goals that stood the test as Blue Ridge picked up a 2-0 victory over St. Anne’s-Belfield Monday afternoon on the road.
“Our midfielders weren’t getting back and transitioning on defense (in the first half),” Bennett said. “When you get back on defense you can get back into the attack.”
The change in energy ignited the Blue Ridge (7-1-1) offense as Sung Bin Choi and Filipp Burnashov each tallied goals in the early stages of the second half. STAB (2-6-2) couldn’t find a counterpunch either as the Saints continued to struggle despite a relentless effort from Younes Zangiabadi, who was particularly dynamic in the late stages of the first half.
“He was timing his runs beautifully, if the balls had been placed a little bit better — more toward the corners — he would’ve gotten on the end of one of those,” Bennett said.
But STAB continued to struggle with getting its scoring going.
“We’ve just been having trouble putting the ball in the back of the net,” “The buildup has been there and at times we’ve been getting behind. It’s just that last touch has been eluding us.”
The road win was a big one for the Barons, who are fighting to get into the state playoffs. With 16 teams in Division I qualifying, Blue Ridge needs to keep stringing together victories to get into the postseason field. With clashes against Woodberry, North Cross, Virginia Episcopal and Tandem left on the schedule plus the VIC tournament, Blue Ridge has its work cut out for it. It starts on the road today against a Tandem squad that beat STAB.
The Saints will try and bounce back against John Paul the Great Tuesday in another home game.
