Both teams may have gotten exactly what they needed Thursday night when Charlottesville and Albemarle boys soccer deadlocked at 1-1.
The Patriots’ season got a much needed jolt, a critical result that could serve as a potential turning point to what hasn’t been a typical season for the program with a young roster.
Charlottesville maybe got a needed reminder that business is about to pick up with the playoffs looming in two weeks.
“I’m glad it happened now instead of later, I think our team kind of needed a kick in the butt,” said Charlottesville coach Martin Braun. “I knew Albemarle was going to come and give us a great game, they’re a tough team always. Sometimes you have to learn it on the field that you can’t just win because you think you’re the better team.”
The match really got going when Michael Hanrahan drew first blood for the Patriots with a goal with 24 minutes left in the first half, a blast from way outside that Charlottesville simply didn’t manage to stop and found its way into the net.
“I think that was everything, last time we played them it was 4-1, so I think getting the goal early really just gave us some confidence and made us believe we could hang in there with them,” said Albemarle goalie Trevor Driskill.
For the Black Knights, it was a frustrating moment in an atypical, flat first half. The Black Knights cruised 4-1 past Albemarle in the teams’ initial meeting.
“I think the whole half actually was probably our worst half as far as effort, and they capitalized, we kind of deserved to be down by one,” Braun said. “Second half I thought we bounced back.”
Despite absolutely peppering Driskill in the second half, Charlottesville couldn’t find the equalizer until Xavier Trager and Malcolm Brickhouse worked a give-and-go that finished with Brickhouse scoring with 27:07 to play to even the game at 1-1. In overtime, Brickhouse was threatening again when he drew a foul in the box and got a shot at a PK. The Black Knights’ senior leader shot toward the right post but Driskill pounced and stuffed the PK.
“It’s a tense moment for sure but I was proud of my team, they’d worked hard all game so I just needed to make one save,” Driskill said. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good and on a PK you almost have to get lucky to save it.”
It was a phenomenal, clutch stop for the senior keeper.
“We have so much confidence in him, he had a bit of a rough game last time so I knew he was going to come out fired up tonight and he delivered for sure,” said Albemarle coach Zack Laird.
It was also a crucial result for the Patriots as a whole as they’ve been left to re-tool after dropping games to Charlottesville and Western and dealing with some injuries in the backline.
“We’ve been working on our organization in practice and trying out a new formation and I think it’s really helped us defensively,” Laird said. “Guys just hopped and it’s been a huge effort from those guys.”
Albemarle will try and build on the momentum gained from the tie Monday on the road against Orange County while Charlottesville gets a week-long break from matches before travelling to take on Fluvanna County Thursday.
