In reality, it was a game closer in score than by the way things looked on the field. It wasn’t until late in the second half that the Charlottesville defense had to really tighten up and be on its toes. On the other side of things, the Black Knights offense had over 10 quality shots. While some insurance would have been nice for the team hosting a Conference 23 semifinal against Jefferson Forest, Ayat Mohammed’s goal late in the first half proved to be enough for Charlottesville to win 1-0 and punch its ticket to the Region 4A West tournament.
“We had a lot of chances and didn’t convert them all, but that was a great goal in the first half and we needed it,” said Charlottesville assistant Martin Braun, who filled in for head coach Stephen Cost who was missing for family reasons. “Defensively we played great and moved some guys around who aren’t always there. Possesion was great for everyone from the defense to the midfield. I was happy to see everyone helping out.”
With the first meeting between the two being a defensive battle, it was no surprise to see the first half start with both teams struggling to get past mid-field. Alex Pfister had a tough angle shot and Mohammed picked up a free kick but neither opportunity bore fruit. However, with just over seven minutes until the break, Abibi Osman streaked down the field, found Evan Blow who and sent a cross to Mohamed who made a sliding play to knock the ball in right at the left post.
“That came from Abibi taking on three players and hitting Evan,” Mohamed said. “Evan found me and I was able to tap it in. There was a defender in front of me so I had to slide in to be able to tap it in. It was close.”
It was a physical first half with the Cavaliers picking up a pair of yellow cards. Jefferson Forest’s offense generated just one corner and a fast break that was run down without a shot by the CHS defense.
“It was tough, things were really physical but I thought we came together through it,” Mohamed said. “Then we got things going and kept the lead.”
Charlottesville played its best soccer of the night to start the second. With 34 minutes to go, over a five minute span the Black Knights came up with four different opporunties, the first of which missed the net and the latter three all winding up in Cavaliers keeper Tyler Greenough’s hands. Charlottesville had three more shots on goal, but was unable to slip anything else past Greenough.
With a little over 10 minutes to go, Jefferson Forest earned a free kick just past midfield but could not get a shot on goal. Later, the Cavaliers had a corner kick, but the cross flew over both teams to the opposite side of the field allowing the Black Knight defense to kill the play. In the final three minutes, Charlottesville’s offense was able to get the ball deep into Jefferson territory to kill out the clock.
“We know we’ve got a good team and if we play together we can do really well,” Braun said. “We’ve got three seniors who don’t want to stop playing. We have a lot of players and some of our best are coming off the bench which is great to have.”
The Black Knights advance to the Conference 23 championship game on Friday.
