There were moments for both squads when the offense found a way to click, but each and every time, Fluvanna County goalkeeper Nick Greco and Western Albemarle netminder Kai Shin rose to the occasion. As sharp as Taylor Rafaly and Nick Shepherd looked for the Flucos in the first 60 minutes of play, and as well as Alex Nolet and Aaron Myers played for the Warriors at the end of second half and into overtime, nothing was good enough. So for the second time this season, both squads left the field with the matter unresolved, this time in a 0-0 tie.
“I think the goalkeepers on both sides showed that they’re the two best in this district,” said Fluvanna coach Patrick Dieter. “Nick Greco kept us in that game and we got a bit tired. We’re a lot younger than Western and I think we tired out at the end. But the first half, I thought we played the best 40 minutes of soccer we have in a long time.”
While scoring opportunities were few and far between for both teams, it was Fluvanna that had more chances in the first two halves as Shepherd unleashed five shots with one sailing wide, one striking the crossbar and Shin scooping up and knocking away the other three.
Western spent much of the game with a conservative mindset, but the end of the second half and overtime belonged to Nolet and Myers. The two each had their shots smothered on a late breakaway in regulation before Nolet narrowly missed scoring on a header that hit Greco, bounced off the near post and back into the goalie’s hands.
“He was just in great position both times,” Nolet said. “It was the same with Aaron. But that header, I can’t believe that didn’t go in.”
From Greco’s perspective it was a simply a frenzy and one that he enjoyed being a part of.
“It was just crazy – pure adrenaline,” Greco said. “On those breakaways I made the first save and then would get up and the ball is still in play and just have to straight up pounce on it. It was really − I don’t know − it was just awesome.”
The final whistle sounded shortly there after leaving to the top two teams in the standings in the Jefferson District no different than when they came into the game – deadlocked in a tie at the top.
“Both teams are defending really, really well and I thought this was going to be a battle about who made the most of their opportunities,” said Western coach Paul Rittenhouse.
Greco wound up with 15 saves on the night. Shin wasn’t far behind with 13 stops of his own.
“They had a couple of chances where Kai just made some amazing saves and then we had a couple where (Greco) hugs the post,” Rittenhouse said. “You’d have liked for (the game) to have been decided but you’ve got two teams that have given up six goals in district play. You knew it was going to be a defensive battle.”
Fluvanna (8-0-2, 6-0-2) will host Monticello on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
Western (7-0-3, 6-0-2) heads to Louisa also on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
