After fighting through overtime and penalty kicks to get into the Group AAA championship, Albemarle didn’t expect this. Facing Colonial Forge for the fifth time – a completely preposterous possibility, two teams from the same district playing in a state final without divisional play – the Patriots were up against a team they’d beaten just once in the previous four tries, losing the first three matches between the regular season and the Commonwealth District championship, but winning the Northwest
Region tournament final. But what Albemarle did with its bench strategy on Friday in the sun at the Westfield Jubilee paid major dividends on Saturday. This team had more energy than the Eagles could deal with.
It took four minutes for the Patriots to draw blood. Between the unbelievable bench play, Matt Natale’s stellar play in goal and an aggressive philosophy, Albemarle didn’t just squeak out its first state championship in program history, it owned it with a 3-0 win.
“This means everything,” said Kai Marshall who made it 1-0 to start the game. “It means a lot for us, a lot for the coaches, a lot for the school and a lot for the town. We’ve never won a state championship (in soccer) and it’s just incredible.”
On a play that was set up by Rowan Perry, a roar from a solid Albemarle fan base that made the trip up to Northern Virginia broke out when Marshall connected on a shot to the bottom right corner of the net almost immediately out of the gates.
After all the fervor of winning, a slew of postgame interviews, running through a tunnel of fans and greeting one jubilant person after another, Rowan Perry, the architect of the first two goals, was at a loss for words.
“It’s a blur, the first goal, can you remind me?” Perry said, before quickly recovering after brief refresher. “Yea, so the ball, I post popped it in the air and Kai ran it down and had a great finish.”
Marshall pursued Perry’s pass, but had no idea that it was going to result in a goal.
“I didn’t think I was going to get it,” Marshall said. “Rowan made a great header, something out of nowhere. He made something out of nothing and I just put it away.”
Playing in the heat, Albemarle’s strategy going forward was surprisingly aggressive. The Patriots didn’t sit back and play defense with the 1-0 lead. Instead they kept chasing each chance and rolling in one mass substitution after another. The Eagles were forced to try and defend each wave of new legs, making changes as well, but not nearly at the same rate. Each player on the Albemarle bench registered at least 10 minutes of play with an impressive average of just over 22 minutes between nine different people.
“This was the fifth time we’ve play them and we didn’t want to give them anything.” Perry said. “Last time we played them we were down 2-0 at halftime and ever since then we’ve been playing for keeps.”
The result was the Albemarle bench holding serve and the Patriots’ starters coming back in with renewed energy and creating up chances. Marshall looked like a one-man wrecking crew in the first half, missing just high and then wide on a pair of chances late. Meanwhile, at the other end, Forge had just two quality chances in the first with Natale making a key stop on a set play midway through the half and then breaking loose and cutting off the angle on a breakaway to make his most impressive save of the day.
“This was a team win by far. The defense played great all day but I had to come out and make a few saves and do my job too,” Natale said. “This was crazy. It’s like a dream.”
The Albemarle keeper made six saves to earn the shutout.
The pressure the Patriots put on the Eagles in the first half paid off in the second. After Forge had a strong first three minutes out of the break by keeping Albemarle at bay, the Patriots came knocking and delivered what was a death blow on a broken play. Perry put a shot on net that kicked out and this time Andrew Solomon was there to clean it up and make it 2-0.
“I got a great feed and (Nolan Smith) made a great save and I kicked over and Andrew was there to finish, it was awesome,” Perry said.
Up 2-0, the Patriots pulled back on the reigns, still running in mass substitutions but playing conservatively with Forge trying to get anything in the middle of the field to try and attack Natale in net. Nonetheless, Albemarle still got its chances and if a 2-goal lead wasn’t enough to work with, Victor Zarate made sure his team had more than enough insurance when he scored with just under 20 minutes to play on an assist from Jon Mathes. The clock melted away after Zarate’s goal and the Patriots’ defense held strong to preserve the shutout.
Not lost on the players, Albemarle’s fan base managed to make its presence felt.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Marshall said of the atmosphere. “I’ve played in a lot of big games and this was by far the most passionate game I’ve played in.”
Albemarle earned that outpouring from its fans. The Patriots’ wild playoff run was born out of the squad’s own passion. And after a string of improbable wins, it ends with an even more improbable title.
