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Warriors shutout Knights

The Warriors had to wait a week, but it was well worth it. Western bounced back in a big way after being shutout last Friday in the Region 3A West championship with Blacksburg by blanking the Region 3A East champion, John Champe, 1-0 for the team’s 16th shutout of the season.

And just like that, the Warriors are headed to the Group 3A championship on Saturday for a rematch with Blacksburg.

“It’s great, we left the (huddle after the game) saying that no one thought we could do it,” said Western coach Jake Desch. “We had a lot of injuries and we’re a very young team. This team has just really stepped up though and it’s been a lot of fun to watch them grow.”

The Warriors set the tone early offensively, earning a handful of corners. Elizabeth Fabiano pressured the Knights early with her speed down the sidelines but Western had to wait until near the end of the first half to capitalize on its opportunities.

“So the strategy for us is always to high press,” Desch said. “Especially in the first half, we did a great job of putting them under pressure and taking advantage from that.”

The game’s big moment came from just that. After a turnover by Champe, Jane Romness found Nichole Heon streaking down the field and hit her with a perfectly placed ball. The sophomore buried the shot.

“That was pretty much all Jane,” Heon said. “I started out making the run and was trying to take the ball more out wide instead of crossing and she just kept dribbling. I ended up crossing in front of her and she made a great lay off and (the ball) was just right there in front of me.”

For a team featuring more than a handful of freshmen and sophomores, the goal wasn’t just a welcome sight because it put them ahead.

“It was really nice to get up so we could settle in,” Heon said. “We always come out early with nerves and after that I think we started playing our game.”

With 8:15 left to play, the Warriors had the 1-0 lead but continued to play aggressively and earned a pair of corners in the process to finish up a strong first half as they dominated possession and held the Knights to just one shot.

“We had some more opportunities and I thought those helped us keep up the momentum going into the half,” Desch said.

Not a whole lot changed in the second half. Aside from the urgency that Champe showed in the last six minutes of the contest, the contest was pretty cut and dry with the Warriors keeping the Knights on their heels and just missing on a pair of shots. Conversely, the Western defense held the Knights to just two second half scoring opportunities and it wasn’t until the middle of the second that goalkeeper Erin Farina had to come out and make the first of her two saves in the game.

“(Our defensive experience) is the luxury we have,” Desch said. “We were able to limit there chances today.”

With six minutes and change left, the Knights had their best chance on a fast break down the left side of the field but the Warriors defense kept Champe from getting a nice shooting lane and Farina was able to race out, meet the ball and dive on it to extinguish the play. That was as close as the Knights could get and the Warriors spent the final two minutes of the game comfortably working in Champe’s end of the field.

“Our defense played really well today,” Heon said. “We worked a lot on our shape in the back and they really all stepped up and so did Erin.”

The win sets up a rematch of the Region 3A West final. Western will face Blacksburg on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Liberty University. The Bruins won the previous meeting 2-0 and defeated Brentsville by the same score in their Group 2A semifinal.

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