Western Albemarle’s boys soccer team had to do some shuffling on defense with a hip flexor injury to Stuart Fooks and a banged up Seth Dusci, which pushed Ilo Zak into the lineup Monday night against Charlottesville’s speedy forwards led by Abass Osman.
Zak and the rest of the re-tooled Western defense passed the test, holding Charlottesville to just two total shots and a single goal as Western won the clash of the Jefferson District unbeatens 3-1. The victory gives Western (9-0-3) sole possession of first place.
“I think we just played hard,” Zak said. “We got sucked in and played good defense.”
Zak, who played sparingly before Monday, wasn’t the only Warrior moving around. Midfielder Forrest White also shifted back into a more defensive role, strengthening the back line and helping Western contain Osman.
“We moved some guys around and it gave us some more flexibility and some balance tonight,” said Western coach Paul Rittenhouse. “That really gave us a different look and the guys responded well do that. (Zak) played out of his mind tonight. He just has this mindset that he’s not going to get beat one-on-one.”
The defense got some help from the offense with 17:42 left in the first half. That’s when Grant Tolber found Aidan Sinclaire on a fastbreak. Sinclaire buried the ball in the back of the net to put the Warriors up 1-0.
Unlike the teams’ first meeting where Western stepped off the pedal after their first goal and left with a tie, the Warriors kept the pedal down, holding possession for most of the game. Just 10 minutes after the first goal, Western struck again, this time with Grant Tolber finding his brother Harris Tolber to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.
“I’m hand-sanitizer sure (99.9 percent) that we had most of the possession,” Rittenhouse said.
Charlottesville’s Davidi Confino put Charlottesville (7-2-1) on the board a few minutes later but it was too little, too late as the Black Knights, previously unbeaten in the JD, fell to the Warriors.
“We couldn’t string a pass — they were just more aggressive and quicker to the ball,” said CHS coach Stephen Cost. “It was almost like we were sitting back.”
Western travels to Louisa Thursday night while Charlottesville will look to bounce back the same night against Monticello on the road.
