Two great defensive teams weathered first and second half storms. Sandwiched in between that was a goal from Western Albemarle’s Marina Clark who could not have more perfectly placed a shot from outside to leave Charlottesville’s defense helpless. That was all that was needed for the Warriors to earn a 1-0 win over the Black Knights, aside of course from some late timely defense.
“Our team goal is to be the Jefferson District champions and to do that you have to beat the champions,” said Warriors coach Jacob Desch. “For us to do that early in district play is huge for our momentum. We came in saying ‘This is our rival and we know it’s going to be tough.’ The girls came in pumped and got the victory they deserved.”
The Warriors were in control for much of the first half but could not break Charlottesville’s defenders, both quick and tall. But in the first five minutes of the second half, a play opened up 30-yards from the CHS net that allowed Western’s Marina Clark to score the game’s only goal.
“Elsa Strickland drew a foul and it was a direct kick,” Clark said. “I looked at (Coach Desch) and he said ‘Just hit it,’ so I said ‘Ok.’ I did and it was half luck. But we’ve been working on shooting a lot, all week because that was one of our weakest spots.”
After Clark’s goal, the Black Knights offense took control outside of Western’s Rachel Cook shot in the 69th minute that just skipped wide left of the net.
“In the first half they were the better team,” said Charlottesville coach Fernando Opere. “(After the goal) in the second we played much better. This was nice soccer. The community has to be proud to see these two teams play such nice soccer. That’s an excellent team we played”
A Corner kick in the 61st minute for CHS from Mary Hemenway almost resulted in a rebound goal for Altheria Pickering, but the Western defense closed in to bring a halt to the chance. Four minutes later Abigail Intolubbe-Chmil put together a beautiful break away play were she put a left crossing pass in stead of shooting that found Pickering who blasted a shot that flew a foot a high of the net.
“We have this problem of playing well but not being able to score,” Opere said. “That cross from Abigail to Altheria was beautiful. Oh, wow. If that goes in, it’s just wow.”
As time wound down, Charlottesville continued to pressure, first with a scramble in front of the net where a Lana Womack shot was saved by Western goalkeeper Emily Marbury. Moments later, Intolubbe-Chmil had a shot roll wide right.
“We had our chances but they really brought it to us in the second half,” Desch said. “We’ve got some things to work on but our goalie, our backs, they played well and stepped up to the occasion.”
And as such the Warriors the held strong to preserve a win over the Black Knights, the first JD loss for Charlottesville since the 2010 district tourney finals, which was decided in penalty kicks.
“They came hard and we just had to keep our shape,” said Marbury, who had five saves. “We had to keep our composure and stay back and do our best to deal with the pressure they put on us. I think we did that as well as we could.”
Shots were nearly even in the match with Charlottesville edging out an 8-7 margin.
Western (5-1, 2-0) hosts Louisa County on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
Charlottesville (3-4, 1-1) hosts Monticello on Monday also at 6:30 p.m.
