Western Albemarle’s girls soccer team’s Class 3 state title defense started Monday night, and while it took a little while for the Warriors to get going, a pair of impressive late game goals lifted Western to a 2-0 win over Powhatan.
“I think it just took us a little while to combine like we know we can,” said Western’s Savannah Wilson. “I think just finding feet and not forcing it forward we were able to connect a little bit better and (the goals) were off two headers so finding out wide and crossing seemed to work really well for us.”
The Warriors had already built some confidence up after a strong performance in a scrimmage with Blacksburg, the team that in the two years prior to last year’s state title run had knocked Western out of the playoffs. Western beat the Bruins 3-1 in last year’s region title game and posted an even bigger advantage in the scrimmage last week.
“That just gave us a huge confidence boost for this year…that was a huge way to start off the season,” Wilson said.
Against Powhatan, Katrine Berg provided the setup for the game-winner when she lifted a corner kick into the box that found her sister Julia Berg. Julia Berg connected on a header and buried in the back of the net for the 1-0 lead with 20 minutes left in the match. Then 10 minutes later, Cameron Hucek blasted a cross into the middle and it found Abby Zimmerman who headed it in.
The Western defense was locked in much of the night, which allowed the Warriors to control possession and keep the pressure on the Indians. Keeper Bailey Wood made one save but otherwise wasn’t pressed into much action as the Warriors kept control.
Western (1-0) will host Louisa Tuesday in their next match.
