Tabb soccer star Reilly Maw doesn’t need much room to operate on the pitch. Jamestown High coach Bobby O’Brien, who coaches Maw on the Virginia Legacy Club team, knows all too well.
His familiarity with the Tigers’ relentless scoring machine was most evident late in the first half of a scoreless showdown between the two perennial district powers Wednesday night.
When a late rotation by Jamestown’s defense allowed Maw a seam down the left sideline with five minutes left in the opening half, O’Brien blurted out, “Now Reilly’s going to score a goal!”
Actually, Maw didn’t score. But the end result was all the same. After a 20-yard run down the left sideline, Maw crossed a well-placed ball that caught Sutton Nichols perfectly in stride before Nichols easily punched in the go-ahead goal.
Maw would go on to score and assist on two more goals in the second half as Tabb held on for an impressive 3-1 victory at home over the defending Group AA state champion Eagles.
Tigers’ coach Scott Kuhnle said finally pushing a goal through before halftime gave his team a major momentum boost after outshooting the Eagles by five goals in the first 40 minutes.
“That was huge,” Kuhnle said of breaking the scoreless tie late in the first half. “It really gave us the insight that we can finish, and we needed that because against team like Jamestown, if you don’t finish when you have opportunities, they’re going to claw their way back.”
The Eagles would eventually find their groove offensively and prevent the shutout, but not before Tabb’s dangerous attack up front led by Maw, Nichols and Ali Akubaisee helped the Tigers build a 3-0 advantage.
A little over 10 minutes into the second half, with Tabb clinging to a 1-0 lead, Maw dropped a pass off to Nichols who then sent it back over top to Maw streaking down the middle. Jamestown goalkeeper Tim Slade misjudged the ball in the middle of the box which allowed Maw to tap in Tabb’s second goal of the game on an open net.
“That was probably the easiest goal I’ve scored all season,” Maw said. “But Sutton [Nichols] sent a nice ball and forced [Jamestown’s] keeper to make a tough play. We showed great determination and effort tonight.”
When Maw gained possession at the top right corner of the box less than five minutes later drawing nearly all of the attention from Jamestown’s defenders, he slipped a pass over to Aikubaisee who drilled a left-footed shot across goal and into the back of the net.
“Those three (Maw, Sutton and Aikubaisee) are really good in open spaces,” Kuhnle said of his three formidable attackers. “Of course Reilly is the strength – he sort of holds everything together – and the other two are very technical. So when they’re around each other they can really pose problems for defenses.”
Jamestown was much more productive out of its attack in the second half, and finally broke through with 21:38 left in regulation after sophomore Jeff Wolons, streaking across the middle of the box, sent a low line-drive shot that slipped under Tigers keeper Matt Candusso.
“I challenged my team to come out with more intensity in the second half, and I thought we did that,” said O’Brien, who saw his string of consecutive regular-season district victories snapped at 44. “We just need to manufacture better.
“We’re a young team, and I thought we played pretty well, but for as well as we played, we didn’t really create anything super-dangerous in the final third.”
Expected to be in the thick of a district race that could be five teams deep down the stretch, Maw called Wednesday’s victory an ideal start to the regular season.
“Couldn’t ask for anything better than to start (the Bay Rivers regular season) with a win against the reigning state champs,” Maw said. “I’m sure we’ll see them again.”
