By Aaron Perryman/Scrimmageplay.com Contributor
If Albemarle’s boys soccer team can keep spreading the ball around, the Patriots are going to be in pretty good shape.
Albemarle coasted to a 6-0 win over Brooke Point Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Commonwealth District tournament.
The Patriots netted two goals off corner kicks in the first half and added four more goals in the second 40 minutes to put away the Blackhawks. Senior forward Julian Lowe scored two goals but Albemarle sported a balanced attack, with five different players recording goals.
“One thing that has been a challenge on this team is getting everyone playing time because lots of kids deserve to play,” said coach Scott Jackson. “There are a lot of skilled players and tonight their skills kind of shone through. We were able to spread the ball around kind of like a spread offense in football and a lot of guys were able to finish.”
In the seventh minute of the first half, Patriot junior midfielder Micah Arseneault hit a corner kick toward senior midfielder Sam Mackay who chipped it on to senior defender Eric Bohn in front of the net for Albemarle’s first goal. Senior forward Steven Bargh scored six minutes later, again off a corner kick by Arseneault and the rout was on.
In the two teams’ regular season matchups, Brooke Point lost in a tight match 3-2 in overtime and then topped the Patriots 3-1 in the second contest. Friday night, however, two of the Blackhawks’ top players were sidelined with injuries early on in the match — senior midfielder Robby Houk and senior forward Kyle Thompson, who, by himself, was responsible for 16 Brooke Point goals on the year.
“Our leading goal scorer went out 30 seconds into the game and…he’s kind of our motor,” said Brooke Point coach Brian Foley. “Then our engine in the middle of the field went out. These aren’t excuses — we got outplayed — but those were early knocks. Our team confidence went down and then that led to some poor decision-making and a good team like Albemarle is going to capitalize.”
While the Blackhawks suffered setbacks because of injuries, Albemarle was healthy and hitting its stride.
“Our team is finally healthy for the most part, and the boys played with their highest level of intensity thus far this year,” Jackson said. “We finished our chances early and that put Brooke Point on their heels a bit.”
In the second half, sophomore midfielder Kai Marshall and junior forward Damon McIntire added goals while Lowe tallied his two.
“The goalie deflected the ball and I just had the perfect opportunity to shoot into the goal on the rebound,” Lowe said of his first goal in the 56th minute of the match. “We showed great teamwork in the first half and then we stepped it up in the second half. We showed good composure and finished it off.”
Albemarle (9-5-3) moves on to the district semifinals, likely a Tuesday night matchup at North Stafford. The Patriots advanced to the region quarterfinals last year where they lost to Osbourn Park in a 1-0 overtime thriller, the first and only loss of the season for the previously undefeated squad.
Note: Edited at 1:15 p.m. Saturday, May 22nd to reflect goal by Damon McIntire.
