When a team that’s as talented as Albemarle is also essentially throwing themselves at the ball in the box and scrapping for every rebound and loose ball, it’s extremely tough to beat the Patriots.
Fluvanna found that out Monday night as Albemarle picked up a 6-0 win with a couple of tremendous finishes on rebounds highlighting a four-goal first half.
“I think we were very excited at halftime thinking about how dangerous we had been in the first half in the box,” said Albemarle coach Jeff Balnave.
It was also oddly enough the Patriots’ home opener as scheduling quirks and a postponed game conspired to put Albemarle on the road for the first month of the season.
“We were excited to play at home,” Balnave said. “I think the guys were really excited to play at home and put on a good show.”
Brendan Moyers got Albemarle going when he finished off an Andrew Webber feed with 32 minutes to play in the first half and put Albemarle up 1-0. That’s when the rebounds started going in, when Robert Palma-Galeas finished off a rebound with 28:47 to play to make it 2-0. Nine minutes later, Arsland Kadirov knocked home a rebound to make it 3-0. A couple of minutes later, Webber made a tremendous cross just in front of the goal line and a charging Jake Gelnovatch came flying in, knocking home the goal while essentially somersaulting over the Fluvanna keeper.
The Patriots could’ve been up by quite a bit more, but Nikolai Jackson, Fluvanna’s senior keeper, made four terrific first half saves while facing a barrage of shots from the Patriots.
Albemarle’s defense was rock solid throughout as the Patriots largely controlled possession with the help of Jordan Parks who was active all night in the midfield.
“At the beginning of the season he was a little bit banged up, he had a pulled hamstring so its taken him a little longer than other guys to get in the swing of things,” Balnave said. “We’re actually taking him and putting him at center mid which is a new spot for him instead of center back. I think he likes it because he’s always been a guy who wants to be around the ball. It has kind of been a natural fit with him and Griffin (Coffey, another central midfielder for the Pats).”
The Patriots managed to tie up Fluvanna’s top players most of the night too, using a team effort rather than a strict man-marking approach to hold Carter Allbaugh in particular in check. The Flucos did manage to unleash a couple of solid shots that careened off the goal post, but they had to work for each and every one of those shots.
“We just wanted the players on the whole team and not just any individual to be aware of where Carter is or where so-and-so is,” Balnave said.
Webber tacked on a goal in the second half to go with his two first half assists. Brandon Mahon assisted on Webber’s finish. Griffin Coffey also scored after the break with Grant Kersey providing the assist on that goal that made it 6-0.
Albemarle continues a busy week with a home date against Louisa before traveling to Crozet for a major clash with Western at 6 p.m. Saturday. The Flucos will look to bounce back against Charlottesville on the road Thursday night.
