Albemarle’s boys soccer team needed to wake up and they needed to do it fast. Trailing rival Western Albemarle by two goals at halftime, the Patriots were in dire need of a spark.
A has been the case so many times in the last four years, Marcel Berry provided the needed charge with an explosive scoring run just 30 seconds into the second half.
“We tried to high pressure in the second half which helped us because we were kind of sagging off and playing like we’re used to playing,” Berry said. “The high press helped us get the ball in the attacking third more often and get more chances.”
Albemarle tacked on the equalizer a few minutes later and eventually forced overtime where Berry broke through again to secure a 3-2 overtime victory for the Patriots and the first in a long time for Albemarle against the Warriors.
“It feels great because that’s my first win against Western Albemarle,” Berry said. “It feels good to finally beat them and it feels good to do it in overtime in such a long, drawn out game.”
Western built a 2-0 lead before the break with goals from Aidan Sinclair and Daniel Forsman. But the Warriors couldn’t maintain control with Berry pushing things into the next gear early in the second half. Even though Western was prepared for the Patriots to take the intensity up a notch, an inexperienced Western defense that’s retooling after the graduation of Michael Nafziger, couldn’t contain the Patriots.
“We knew that was coming and they came out and executed it really well,” said Western coach Paul Rittenhouse. “That’s one of those things in soccer where you wish there was a timeout. We said that was going to happen, they came out and did it and things start to snowball.”
The Patriots’ execution led to a second goal that tied things up off the foot of Adonis Krasniqi who finished off a feed from Aidan Toms.
“In the first half we were not that aggressive, we were just kind of slow,” Krasniqi said. “In the second half, we worked as a team to find each other’s feet up top and they found me and found Marcel and we (all) made passes to each other.”
In the first overtime, Albemarle got three great chances right on the doorstep of Western’s goal, but goalie William Dagli, who stepped in for usual starter Al Luna, and the Western defense stood strong. In the second overtime though, Berry found an opening and scored to push the Patriots ahead.
“I was cramping pretty bad, I just had to push through it,” Berry said. “I just tried to hold back as much as I could and then when I got the ball do as much as I can.”
Western wasn’t done though even after the late Berry goal, and created great chance of their own in the closing seconds of the game, but couldn’t equalize as time expired.
“Overtime was wild and they had a flurry of opportunities but we had several good opportunities so you just kind of felt like someone was going to punch one in and they got one,” Rittenhouse said. “It was a great high school match and it was a good match for us. We’re still coming together and I think we proved to ourselves that we’ve got the right pieces and that we’ve got things on the right trajectory now..”
Albemarle will host Orange County Thursday while Western will travel to take on Fluvanna County. The Patriots and Warriors will lock up again May 8.
Albemarle’s boys soccer team needed to wake up and they needed to do it fast. Trailing rival Western Albemarle by two goals at halftime, the Patriots were in dire need of a spark.
A has been the case so many times in the last four years, Marcel Berry provided the needed charge with an explosive scoring run just 30 seconds into the second half.
“We tried to high pressure in the second half which helped us because we were kind of sagging off and playing like we’re used to playing,” Berry said. “The high press helped us get the ball in the attacking third more often and get more chances.”
Albemarle tacked on the equalizer a few minutes later and eventually forced overtime where Berry broke through again to secure a 3-2 overtime victory for the Patriots and the first in a long time for Albemarle against the Warriors.
“It feels great because that’s my first win against Western Albemarle,” Berry said. “It feels good to finally beat them and it feels good to do it in overtime in such a long, drawn out game.”
Western built a 2-0 lead before the break with goals from Aidan Sinclair and Daniel Forsman. But the Warriors couldn’t maintain control with Berry pushing things into the next gear early in the second half. Even though Western was prepared for the Patriots to take the intensity up a notch, an inexperienced Western defense that’s retooling after the graduation of Michael Nafziger, couldn’t contain the Patriots.
“We knew that was coming and they came out and executed it really well,” said Western coach Paul Rittenhouse. “That’s one of those things in soccer where you wish there was a timeout. We said that was going to happen, they came out and did it and things start to snowball.”
The Patriots’ execution led to a second goal that tied things up off the foot of Adonis Krasniqi who finished off a feed from Aidan Toms.
“In the first half we were not that aggressive, we were just kind of slow,” Krasniqi said. “In the second half, we worked as a team to find each other’s feet up top and they found me and found Marcel and we (all) made passes to each other.”
In the first overtime, Albemarle got three great chances right on the doorstep of Western’s goal, but goalie William Dagli, who stepped in for usual starter Al Luna, and the Western defense stood strong. In the second overtime though, Berry found an opening and scored to push the Patriots ahead.
“I was cramping pretty bad, I just had to push through it,” Berry said. “I just tried to hold back as much as I could and then when I got the ball do as much as I can.”
Western wasn’t done though even after the late Berry goal, and created great chance of their own in the closing seconds of the game, but couldn’t equalize as time expired.
“Overtime was wild and they had a flurry of opportunities but we had several good opportunities so you just kind of felt like someone was going to punch one in and they got one,” Rittenhouse said. “It was a great high school match and it was a good match for us. We’re still coming together and I think we proved to ourselves that we’ve got the right pieces and that we’ve got things on the right trajectory now..”
Albemarle will host Orange County Thursday while Western will travel to take on Fluvanna County. The Patriots and Warriors will lock up again May 8.
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