After a tie Thursday night against Monticello that the Western Albemarle’s boys soccer team thought was frustrating, the Warriors had a few different directions it could head.
They could feel sorry for themselves and hang their heads. That was certainly one option.
Western went a different direction entirely Saturday against Albemarle.
“They decided to just get mentally tough, to get physically tough,” said Western coach Milo Oakland.
The Warriors battled Albemarle the entire game and edged the previously red-hot Patriots 1-0 for a huge Jefferson District victory. A Jake Paulson penalty kick with 7:39 to play provided the difference for the Warriors.
Paulson, who was a part of the group in 2014 that took penalty kicks with a state championship on the line in Lynchburg, is no stranger to the pressure of taking a critical penalty kick.
“I sort of know that that’s my spot on the team, (Oakland) has let me know that if it comes down to it and there’s a major PK to take I’m doing it,” Paulson said. “I wasn’t feeling too bad about it but (Albemarle’s Jake Gelnovatch) is a good keeper so I knew I was going to have to hit it very well and luckily I did.”
Paulson banged the ball in off the left post to put the Warriors up a goal.
“I thought we were just a little slow today for whatever reason,” said Albemarle coach Jeff Balnave. “Hats off to Western they deserved to win and we look forward to playing them again.”
Albemarle got two particularly good chances in the final five minutes of the first half, with a penalty kick sailing left and wide and a close range shot being stopped by Western keeper Jon Whyte. Whyte had to make a couple of tremendous saves to keep the Warriors ahead in the closing minutes of an incredible matchup of two of the area’s best keepers in Emory-bound Whyte and Louisville-bound Gelnovatch for Albemarle.
“That was incredible I though both keepers today were just so good,” Paulson said. “Jake was great in the air, Johnny was great in the air and just coming off the line and stuff.”
Balnave concurred with that sentiment.
“For this area, to have two keepers like that in the same game is kind of unheard of,” Balnave said. “Two guys who are going to go play college soccer. They’re both fantastic.”
With the keepers locked in, the game was largely a back-and-forth battle with Albemarle creating more chances in the flow of the game while Western created a handful of corner kicks that they couldn’t connect on. Largely the game was a battle for each loose ball in the midfield that waged from the opening whistle to the final buzzer.
“It’s validating in a lot of ways,” Oakland said. “I’m really proud of how we defended, we stayed organized, everyone took it upon themselves to win their own battles. They have fantastic players and we didn’t back down from any of them.”
That effort translated into a massive win for the Warriors. The two squads won’t have to wait too long for a rematch either. Western and Albemarle will faceoff May 2 at Albemarle at 7:30 p.m.
