Western Albemarle boys soccer coach Milo Oakland’s yelled “play fast” as his squad took the field for the second half of the Conference 29 final. Turner Ashby’s defense had bottled up the top seed’s offensive attack over the opening 40 minutes, with the Warriors managing just three shots (none on goal). After goalkeeper Jonathan Whyte made his second save of the game when TA’s Matthew Althaver fired on goal in the third minute out of the break, Western turned up the pressure in their offensive half, and cracks in the Knights’ defensive armor emerged.
“They defend and they’re organized,” Oakland said of Turner Ashby’s approach, which he and the Warriors observed in a semifinal match against Spotswood two nights ago. “We talked about having to be patient all game. We kind of had the analogy of a wave breaking over something; you’ve just got to keep going, and eventually the dam is going to break.”
The dam eventually broke in the second half as Western won 3-0 over TA to secure the conference title just one year after the Warriors lost in the conference semifinals against Stuarts Draft.
With the ball in the box in the ninth minute of the half, Western’s attack drew a penalty kick, and senior Jake Paulson found the back of the net.
“I saw Will Thomas get the ball after there was a big scrum for it, and he tried to spin out and got clipped from behind,” Paulson said.
The margin remained 1-0 for the next twenty-plus minutes. The Warriors had three unsuccessful corner kicks, while TA had two. In the thirtieth minute, Paulson led the attack from the right side and, thanks to a redirect by sophomore Alex Moreno, delivered goal number two.
“I got it up the line and was able to cut back, and saw I had an angle for a shot,” said Paulson. “I went for it and it was a pretty good shot. It hit off the side of Alex’s face and bounced in the net, and it was awesome.”
It wasn’t the Warriors’ most aesthetically pleasing goal, but it got the job done.
“I think he was trying to get out of the way [of Jake’s shot],” Oakland said. “As we talked at halftime, (we said) we’ll take pretty goals and we’ll take ugly goals, and that was an ugly one.”
Seventy-six seconds later, Western put the Conference 29 championship away when Paulson corralled a loose ball in the box and put it away in the left corner of the cage.
“Jake found the ball in the perfect spot for a left-footed player and just curled it right in,” said Oakland.
With its 3-0 victory in the Conference final, Western (15-1-3) will host the Conference 32 runner-up in a 3A West quarterfinal next Tuesday.
