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Combo Play: Western secures top region tourney seed with win over CHS

Photo by Bart Isley

Western Albemarle has been locked in on figuring out how to finish, on moving the ball quickly on offense between offensive players to set up goals. 

 

“We’ve been playing well but we haven’t been scoring many goals,” said Western coach Mia Fields. “We’ve been doing so many shooting drills in practice especially where girls would get touches on balls that were shot on goal and that’s starting to come together.”

 

Monday night one of those combinations helped Western put away Charlottesville 2-0 and clinch the No. 1 seed in the Region 3B tournament. Erica Repich pushed the ball to Sophie Lananhan who moved it across the face of the Charlottesville keeper to Charlotte Bynum for a quick shot that found the back of the net. With just a couple of minutes left to play, it put the Warriors up 2-0 and iced a game both teams needed to secure the top seed in the Region 3C tournament. 

 

In a game that was primarily played in the midfield with just a handful of offensive chances for both teams, it took Western until the 18:20 mark in the second half to break the 0-0 deadlock. That’s when Taraneh Brown finished off a counter attack led by the speedy Erica Repich.

 

“We’ve had really great passes but we were never finishing it,” Brown said. “That was a perfectly timed pass (from Erica) and it ended up working really well for us.” 

 

Last week, Charlottesville beat Albemarle 1-0 to prevent the Patriots from completing an undefeated Jefferson District regular season and set the stakes for the Monday showdown with Western. Similarly in this one, the Black Knights refused to go quietly, opening up the attack in the closing minutes looking for the equalizer. Two different counter attacks couldn’t get a clean shot off and once the Black Knights drew a short corner but the ball slipped past three CHS players at the top of the circle and rolled to midfield. 

 

That aggressiveness opened the door for that combination play on the other end with the Black Knights trying to push up. Bynum’s goal put it out of reach, ending hopes of a late equalizer by the Black Knights. It was also impressive that the Western defense held up against Charlottesville’s energized attack and speed in the midfield. 

 

“I thought they played as a unit, there was good communication and they came up with the big balls when they needed to,” Fields said.

 

Both squads will host first round Region 3B games, with top-seeded Western playing the Northumberland/Fluvanna play-in game while the No. 3-seeded Black Knights host George Mason.

 

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