Charlottesville’s boys soccer team scored early and often in its Region 4D quarterfinal, defeating Bassett 9-0 to advance to the semifinals and move a step closer to a state tournament berth.
Ayat Mohamed, Joe Von Storch and Malcolm Brickhouse all had two goals in the romp. Mohamed added an assist.
The Black Knights generated 10 corners in the first half, getting three of them in the first five minutes. The third netted them a goal off a header by Oliver Barca off shot that had hit the crossbar.
In the 11th minute, Charlottesville doubled the lead when Mohamed outran a Bassett defender and fed Von Storch, who beat Bengals goalkeeper Jackson Hognet for a 2-0 advantage.
“Our goal was to score early, we haven’t been doing that very well recently,” Charlottesville coach Martin Braun said. “I thought we played well and came out with a good first half.”
The early goals provided more than enough support against a Bassett attack that struggled to get going all game. The visitors from Henry County didn’t get a shot on goal until first-half stoppage time–one of just two on the game. Meanwhile, Brickhouse made it 3-0 in the 36th minute when he juked two defenders, including Hognet and tapped it into the empty net for a comfortable halftime margin.
But Charlottesville wasn’t done.
Mohamed scored barely a minute after the break, then got another after Brickhouse and Von Storch each netted their second — all in the first 10 minutes of the half.
“In the first half we didn’t finish a lot of our chances, but we did a lot better job of that in the second half,” Brickhouse said.
The Black Knights emptied their bench after that. One of those substitutes, Rashad Kondo, scored in the 72nd minute and Said Osman netted one in stoppage time for the final margin.
“We have a really deep team. Everyone can play,” Braun said. “Unfortunately we can only play 11 at a time. Everyone can come in and play their part, so it was good to get everybody in today.
Charlottesville will host Liberty Christian who beat E.C. Glass 3-2 on Tuesday for a spot in the state tournament.
“It’ll be really important,” Brickhouse said of the home field advantage throughout the tournament. “Last year we were on the road in Blacksburg, and it might have been different if we were playing here.”
