Western has had every ingredient necessary for a strong start to games — except the goals. That wasn’t a problem Monday.
“We’ve typically had strong starts that haven’t resulted in goals so we wanted to make that transition,” said Western coach Paul Rittenhouse. “Instead of just pounding a way at the goal, getting it to result in something positive.”
The Warriors jumped on a depleted William Monroe squad early and grabbed a lead before coasting to an 8-0 victory. The Dragons, who’d been red-hot coming into the contest having beaten Charlottesville, Orange County, Monticello and Louisa while also giving Fluvanna County all it could handle, stumbled without several starters in the lineup. Greene County schools are on spring break this week.
Western got two-goal games out of Ian Ducci, Harris Tolber and Kevin Salazar. Salazar’s second score, which was the Warriors’ seventh, was the most spectacular as he trapped the ball with his chest and buried a bicycle kick in the net.
Richard Ansa and Michael Nafizinger rounded out the scoring for Western.
Forest White set the table for his teammates all night with a trio of assists. Stuart Fooks and Grant Tolber also had goals.
The 8-0 was particularly impressive because Tolber one of the Warriors’ top offensive threats, didn’t score.
“We had to play without Grant against Monticello, and that served as a wakeup call to a lot of guys that we can’t rely on him,” Rittenhouse said. “It forces people to key on other people.”
Western and Monroe both take about a week off before tackling their next opponents, Monticello for the Dragons and Goochland for the Warriors, both games are slated for next Monday.
