Western Albemarle roared to life 10 minutes into the second half Monday night against Sherando in the Region II quarterfinals as Western rolled to a 5-2 victory to earn a berth in the semifinals.
The Warriors fell behind 2-1 early in the second half when Sherando’s Morgan Sirbaugh blasted in a goal from just outside the box, but from there, Western caught fire. Senior L.P. Desch and sophomore Katie Farina gave Western life with several hard-nosed plays, and Western fed off the energy. Farina set the table for Everliegh Stokes five minutes after Sirbaugh’s goal on a nice through ball, then Farina scored a goal of her own a couple of minutes later on a cross from Kelly Abrams. The Warriors picked up the paced from there, with Abrams knocking home goal from just inside the box and Sara Barlow scoring off a pass from Marina Clark. Barlow’s goal put Western up by three with 10 minutes left and ended any hope of a Sherando rally.
With Western controlling all the action by going right at Sherando’s man-to-man defensive system, Sherando failed to put together a scoring chance in the final 25 minutes.
Desch, one of Western’s emotional leaders, assisted on the first half goal, which Clark scored. Desch took control of the game at several times as she’s often done during her career in both field hockey and soccer.
Another senior, keeper Lexy Eckerle, finished with five saves on the night.
Now Western moves on to the Region II semifinals against Loudoun County Wednesday at 7 p.m.
