Western Albemarle’s girls soccer team got a little breathing room when Elizabeth Fabiano scored for the Warriors in the early stages of the second half.
“I think it made us feel a little better and calm down a little bit in our play,” said Caroline Riordan. “But we still wanted to go for more, we didn’t want to hold back.”
The Warriors stayed aggressive and while they didn’t score again, they kept Monticello at bay and wrapped up a 2-0 victory over the Mustangs.
Caitlin Harvey scored Western’s first goal, helping give the Warriors a 1-0 lead before the break. Beyond that, it came down to how the Western possessed the ball.
“I think we moved the ball really well, and that’s one of our biggest strengths is that we know where each other are and we can find each other so well,” Riordan said. “Everyone has so much energy on the field, we have a good rotation going.”
Monticello came out with a plan to try and catch the Warriors largely on the counter attack, and they created several runs, but the Warriors largely snuffed them out.
“We knew that their possession is going to be strong and that they liked to move the ball around quickly,” said Monticello coach Thomas Warren. “Our goal was to stay in front and be looking for a quick spring to get the counter attack. We had several looks unfortunately none fall our way but they’re a talented team and we’ll see them again.”
Western, who is traditionally rock solid defensively, held that plan in check without doing anything special, focusing on their usual fundamentally-sound approach.
“We work on our shape a lot and a lot of that comes through our holding mid and our backline playing the check mark very well,” Riordan said. “We also focus on communication which helps out.”
That worked nicely as Monticello couldn’t break through. On the flip side, Monticello’s defense put in a solid effort against the Warriors who can be awfully dynamic up top. With their freshman center back on the shelf with an injury, the Mustangs had to move Hannah Keith, the Mustangs’ William and Mary bound senior, to center back from the spot she’s been playing most of the year as a holding center mid. Keith, who’s largely played on the back line during her Monticello career, handled the switch nicely.
“It’s kind of nice to have your back-up center back be an all-conference, all-state center back,” Warren said. “She slots in there and she’s a phenomenal player.”
Western’s busy week — the Warriors also played Orange County Monday, continues with their clash with Albemarle High Saturday night at 6 p.m. The Mustangs take on Charlottesville Monday night at CHS.
