Charlottesville boys soccer’s Joe Von Storch had a decision to make after he got clipped on a long run — hit the deck and take the foul or try and stay up and finish in the box.
“I was stumbling for about 20 yards and I was deciding whether I wanted to go down or not and take the foul,” Von Storch said. “I decided to stay up and I got a good bounce and I was able to get it in.”
A shorthanded Black Knights’ squad decided to gut it out and finish too, battling past Monticello 3-2 despite a lack of reserves due to a SOCA tournament this weekend and a spate of early season injuries.
“We only had three subs so everyone just had to step up and play a lot more minutes,” Von Storch said. “This was definitely the most minutes I’ve played all year. It was just a team effort. It was gritty, it wasn’t pretty but we got it.”
Von Storch scored the Black Knights first two goals and assisted on Ayat Mohammed’s that stood up as the game-winner against the Mustangs. Von Storch notched the first one early with an assist by goalie Nate Fisher who booted the ball downfield before Von Storch ran it down and scored. He then tacked on the second one with 16:52 left in the first half, staying up on that long, drawn out run to score on a breakaway chip.
Monticello regrouped after those first two Charlottesville goals and notched one late in the first half to cut the lead to 2-1 and then scored a second with 14 minutes left in the game to slice the Charlottesville lead to 3-2.
“Some of the kids are young and they’re nervous and once we got the nerves out I think we settled in and had a great game,” said Monticello coach David Rivera.
Luis Lopez and Fabricio Turcios scored Monticello’s two goals.
The Mustangs’ response made things tense for the Black Knights down the stretch with cramps and exhaustion starting to take hold but Charlottesville managed to hold on. Fisher finished with four saves on the night.
Both teams now move into spring break, and return to action April 9 with Monticello hosting Fluvanna County while Charlottesville travels to take on Orange County.
