Kendall Ballard was only on the field for the first half of the first half as Charlottesville hosted Orange County. Her impact was felt for all 60 minutes with her presence, then her absence. The Black Knights have persevered so far this season because of their defense and Tuesday against the Hornets, that was doubly true as Orange County dominated the time of possession battle, spent most of the game knocking on the door of Charlottesville’s cage, but couldn’t put one in as the Black Knights held on for a 1-0 win.
“We had to mix up the game plan a bit with Ballard going out,” said Charlottesville coach Lindsay Larson. “I am so proud of our defense. It is very new as we lost a lot of it last year but they played very well, particularly Kendal Dowdell and Caroline Clark. I’m speechless right now because I’m so proud of them. It was a hard offense we went up against, aggressive and physical and they found a way to shut them down.”
The only goal of the game came from Ballard’s stick before she was sidelined with an injury. The Black Knights’ junior made the most of her time on the field as just nine minutes into the game, she dribbled into the middle of Orange’s defense from the right side and found an opening to wind up and uncork a blast into the net.
“I was just kind of looking for my shot out of the circle,” Ballard said. “I knew once I crossed the line that would be the only chance I’d have to get a swing off. Luckily, it went in.”
But when Ballard left, the tone of the game changed permanently. The Hornets responded immediately by earning three straight short corners in a five minute span, missing on two scoring chances by just inches. That would be the story for Orange the rest of the night.
“I couldn’t ask for a better game from this defense,” Ballard said. “We just need to get the offense going for them. Everyone (for Orange) was always marked up inside the circle. That’s something we’ve been working on a lot so it was great to see.”
The second half was a battle between the Black Knights’ defense and the Hornets’ attack. While Orange earned eight short corners, Charlottesville stepped up on each occasion to break up any opportunities for a sure goal. For the last 30 minutes of play the Hornets tried to get some sort of penetration to get close to the goal but couldn’t come as close to scoring as they did in the first half.
“This has been our nemesis, we can’t finish and we have to learn how to do that,” said Orange coach Tricia Grabeel. “Honestly we can’t get our feet in the right spot or the ball in the right place on the short corners. They played great defensively. We saw some things we thought we could capitalize on and it was open, but we just couldn’t get the ball where it needed to be. So we’re going to work on consistency, getting the ball set, getting our feet right so you can get a good angle. We’ll get there.
After breaking up a fastbreak opportunity in the waning minutes of play, Charlottesville was able to hang on for the win, and a second straight 1-0 victory after it beat Monticello last Thursday. It was also another shutout for CHS goalie Joanna Kammauff in the cage.
“I thought we’d be playing in high scoring games this year because of how new our defense was, more 4-3 type games,” Larson said. “But hey, 1-0, I’ll take it. Wins are wins.”
Orange County (3-3) will head to Powhatan on Thursday at 5 p.m. looking to bounce back after playing the first and second play Jefferson District squads in a row.
Charlottesville (7-1-1) hosts Western Albemarle for a big JD showdown between the top two teams so far on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
