Inside Covenant’s gym hang a slew of felt banners for the school’s top athletic accomplishments at the VISAA level. Before Monday, only one of them belonged to the Eagles boys soccer team. Make it two now, but the what goes on that banner is still very much in question as Covenant was able to jump out in front of Eastern Mennonite in the Division 2 quarterfinals and hang on for a 2-1 win to punch its ticket to the final four in Richmond.
“These guys set their sights on this early in the season and it’s just exciting to be a part of this,” said Covenant coach Brian Verbrugge. “We knew that our defense would be strong, we haven’t given up a lot of goals. We knew that if we had the intensity that we’d be okay. We came out strong in the first half, got the goal on the PK, then came out strong in the second.”
Covenant got out in front in the first half when Brandon De Jong drew a penalty kick early in the first half. The midfielder didn’t get off the shot he planned, but it was more than good enough to give the Eagles the 1-0 lead.
“I got a shot off and the (defender) blocked it with his hand so Coach Verbrugge gave me the penalty shot,” De Jong said. “I was aiming one way and I kind of miss-hit it but the goalie guessed the wrong way so maybe I got lucky, but it worked out.”
From there until the break, Covenant’s offense dominated the time of possession with a handful of shots and a goal that was called back on an offside call. Still, the pressure the Eagles piled on in the first half, carried over after the break.
Covenant wasted little time, getting a 2-0 lead thanks to Girma Fekadu, who had to sit out the end of the first half after getting dinged up on a slide tackle. Fekadu’s return proved pivotal, and his early goal on an assist from Dejong gave the Eagles the lead they would need.
“This was our third time playing us and every single time they’ve played us, it’s been a great match,” Fekadu said. The Eagles topped the Flames 2-1, but also played them in a 0-0 tie before that. “I got a great assist from Brandon and I was just able to finish. We work hard on that and so it was an exciting win.”
Up by two, the Eagles tried keep the Flames at bay defensively, but with 15 minutes to play, Eastern Mennonite finally started to establish offensive pressure. The Flames made things interesting with 11 minutes to play with a goal from Chad Lehman on a pass from Ryan Gandy, just the seventh goal Covenant’s given up this season.
The Eagles didn’t flinch though, and while the Flames continued to apply pressure, particularly from the sidelines, Covenant’s defense answered the call to wrap up the win.
“Pressure, cover, bounce,” Verbrugge said. “That’s what we do and so we stuck to it. We’re pretty stingy back there. We’re going to have a couple of stingy teams, but this team believes in itself so we just have to play a tough 80 minutes.”
The Eagles will face North Cross on Thursday at Ukrop’s Stadium in Richmond on Thursday at a time TBD. Against the Raiders out of Roanoke, Covenant is 0-1-1 including a 1-1 tie at the start of the regular season and a 1-0 loss at the end of October.
