Charlottesville’s boys soccer team didn’t want to forget, they didn’t want to just move on.
Immediately after the Black Knights’ first loss of the season, a 2-1 overtime defeat in the Region 4A West title game at the hands of Kettle Run, the first game they’ve trailed in all year, assistant coach Martin Braun was short and to the point, telling Charlottesville loudly in the postgame huddle to “remember this feeling.”
“It’s awesome that we’ve been going through and having this great season and nobody wanted to win out more than me but we’ve got to take our lesson and learn,” said Charlottesville coach Stephan Cost. “We’re going to learn from it and we’re going to use that energy and get going forward.”
The Black Knights get a chance to use that energy by virtue of their region semifinal victory that clinched a state final four berth. They’ll face Region 4A East champion Chancellor Friday in the state semifinals at 2 p.m.
For a moment Friday though, the Black Knights appeared set to steal a victory when Evan Blow blew down the left flank and buried an equalizing goal in a game a that appeared hopelessly lost for the Black Knights.
“He is working hard on the left,” Cost said. “Evan is a huge part of this season, he’s a huge part of this team. He comes 110 percent every single day, there’s just no quit in the kid.”
But Blow and the Black Knights couldn’t find the go-ahead goal after getting into overtime despite several good chances. Then with 3:18 left in the second overtime, Kettle Run found the game-winner, with Jakob Wine scoring when the ball slipped past the Charlottesville keeper and Wine was there near the far post.
“The ball was sent in and he was just in the right place at the right time,” said Kettle Run coach Phillip Roper.
Kettle Run’s first goal came in similar fashion as the Cougars crashed the net well on their handful of chances to make something happen on the offensive end. Nick Seyler managed to bury it with 27:05 left to play to put Kettle Run up 1-0 after the ball slipped out of the CHS keeper’s hands.
On the other end, the Cougars did one of the best defensive jobs of the year against the explosive Black Knights offense. Holding Charlottesville scoreless until the final four minutes of regulation is no small feat.
“We had a practice on Tuesday totally dedicated to defense and it showed up in our game against Heritage,” Roper said. “We had a good little test there, but we have a defender, Julian Hernandez, in the back who can run. We’ve got speed up top and then that guy in the back who has a lot of speed.”
The Black Knights now turn their attention to the Group 4A semifinals Friday where they’ll face Chancellor at 2 p.m.
