The field conditions were less than ideal and two goals and a red card within the first five minutes had Charlottesville and Fluvanna’s pivotal game set up as dog fight.
“On this field we were not playing soccer, it was kick and run,” said Black Knights coach Fernando Opere. “There’s no way to pass really, but we were lucky today. I think we were inspired though playing with 10 players.”
The early chaos was all too fitting for what’s been a wild race at the top of the Jefferson District standings.
Only two minutes in, Opere’s team took a 1-0 lead on the Flucos, but after a foul in the box on break away just moments later allowed Fluvanna’s Kat Ditta to convert on a penalty kick the game was even again. Down a player, the next 10 minutes were tense, but on a corner kick that was initially headed by Althera Pickering that was headed again by Mary Hemenway, Charlottesville took a 2-1 lead and then packed in its defense. Ironically, the go-ahead goal and defensive approach opened up the Black Knights offense as Abigail Intolubbe-Chmil went on a fast break tear for the rest of the night to lead Charlottesville to a 5-2 on the road.
“The way we normally play, I had to change that after the red card,” Opere said. “I kept three defenders but kept a stopper in front. And the girls, they were great. I think today, Abigail, she was just incredible. She used her body so well, was so well positioned.”
Grace Paine put the Black Knights up 1-0 on an assist from Hemenway to get the game started. Fluvanna answered immediately though after Allison Peino was ahead on a breakaway and taken down. Ditta took the PK and scored a shot to the bottom right side of the net.
From there it was a battle until Charlottesville scored on another set piece, this time with Hemenway cleaning up with a header to make it 2-1 game midway through the first.
“The second goal, Althea just bounced it off her head and I just was there to head it in,” Hemenway said. “We were frantic but knew we could win this game. We pressured really high up and worked on playing aggressive up front. After the goal though, we were able to back up and focus on defensive play.”
It didn’t show though. Late in the first Kaitlyn Cost put a perfectly placed lob in the net to make it 3-1 and it didn’t take long from Intolubble-Chmil to add to the lead before the break to increase Charlottesville’s lead to three goals.
“You have to be aggressive and want every single ball,” Intolubbe-Chmil said. “As soon as the PK got called, we got really stressed out. But we came back thinking that if we could beat them with a man down it would be that much better. I think it motivated us.”
To start the second half, Ditta put Fluvanna on the board in the first four minutes for make it a 2-goal game, but the momentum did not last long with Intolubbe-Chmil tallying another goal on a breakaway and the Charlottesville defense loading up behind her to finish up the end the game.
“Obviously this isn’t the result we wanted but we’ll keep moving forward,” said Fluvanna Coach Tara Garcia. “They were down a player after the red card and they should not have scored all those goals. We just have to mark up. This was not who we are, but you learn something from every loss.”
Charlottesville, the only team to beat Fluvanna in the regular season, hosts Louisa County on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Fluvanna, which was atop of the JD standings coming in, has a huge game ahead with another front runner in Monticello on Thursday at 7 p.m
