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Wait Over: Albemarle girls soccer shuts out Western to clinch district title

Photo by Bart Isley

Emily Ward, Kora Jillions, Liz Yow, Jaya Daniel and the rest of Albemarle girls soccer’s senior class had to wait a long time for this moment. 

 

Thursday night that wait ended with a 3-0 win over Western Albemarle. 

 

“It’s so special — Western always comes out and it’s a really big fight for us,” Yow said. “It’s so special for us to finally win it, especially as a senior, leaving and getting that trophy — it feels so good.”

 

Despite winning a state title as sophomores and stacking up wins year in and year out, that senior class had never won a Jefferson District regular season title, including last year not even getting a chance to compete for one due to the pandemic. This year, the Patriots had to fight off a deep district and overcome an absolutely wild midseason tie with the Warriors to pull off the program’s first district title in years.

 

“Any time Western and Albemarle are playing each other it’s a lot of fun,” said Albemarle coach Amy Sherrill. “There’s a lot of pride in this game, there’s a lot of excitement. They’re so good, so well-coached and it’s the right game to prepare us for what’s coming next.”

 

On a blazing hot day, the Patriots got some early help when an unfortunate pass back toward the keeper for Western took a funny hop on the turf and slipped in for an own goal, giving Albemarle a 1-0 lead at the break. 

 

“That’s such an unfortunate blunder that happened in the first half that wouldn’t have been fair to decide that game,” Sherrill said. “For us to find the back of the net two more times in the second half was pretty fun. And for our freshmen to step up and deliver for these seniors was pretty awesome.”

 

Those two goals came in rapid succession and the first came off the foot of freshman Natalie Wolfe off a tremendous through ball by another freshman Devon Higginbottom. Wolfe chipped the ball to her right just as the Western keeper tried to meet her and put Albemarle up 2-0. 

 

“My team provided me with a lot of good balls and opportunities to score and I just took advantage of that,” Wolfe said.

 

The second goal came when Kora Jillions got on the move and pushed a perfectly placed ball ahead on a counter. Madeline St. Amand found it, made a quick move to her left and finished with her left for a 3-0 lead. St. Amand, Higginbottom, Wolfe, Jillions and Katie Manley have all proven themselves as scorers this year in big moments and that makes Albemarle increasingly difficult to defend. 

 

“I think having good speed, good teamwork and being able to set each other up really helps us out,” Wolfe said.

 

Jillions shining in that sequence to help put the game away added to an impressive legacy for the Patriots’ senior that has a few more chapters to come with the region and potentially state tournaments looming over the next two weeks.

 

“She’s special man, we’re fortunate to have her on our team and she’s going to do whatever it takes for her team, whether it’s up top or at the center mid,” Sherrill said. “She’s going to find a way to get it done.”

 

Yow, who didn’t play in the first meeting of the defending Class 3 and Class 5 state champions because of an injury suffered during field hockey season, marked Western’s electric freshman forward Reese Mattern and made things difficult for her all evening which knocked the Western offense out of rhythm. 

 

“She’s our X-factor, we can put her anywhere on the field, ask her to step up and she’ll deliver,” Sherrill said. “We asked her to have a tough matchup tonight and that’s what she did time and time again  — deliver.”

 

Both squads will now turn their attention to their respective region tournaments with Western competing in the Region 3C bracket starting with a home game Monday night while the Patriots will host Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Region 5D semifinals. 

 

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