As a whole, the Bay Rivers District made an impressive showing during the quarterfinal round of the Region I boys and girls soccer tournaments Tuesday night.
Exactly how dominant was the showing?
All six teams that played – Tabb’s girls game against Courtland in Fredericksburg was postponed due to severe thunderstorms – advanced to Thursday’s semifinal round while outscoring opponents a combined 23 goals to one.
Four of them – Jamestown’s boys and girls, Warhill’s girls and Lafayette’s boys – cruised to 5-0 victories. Grafton’s boys also earned a 1-0 shutout while York’s girls advanced with a 2-1 win.
The six teams will play for a state tournament berth Thursday, with four of them competing locally in a semifinal double-header at Wanner Stadium. Jamestown’s girls will host Warhill at 5 p.m. followed by Lafayette’s boys taking on Jamestown at 7 p.m.
Grafton’s boys will travel to play Culpeper at Liberty High School in Bealeton, while York’s girls will await the winner of the Tabb-Courtland game, which will resume play in the 15th minute Wednesday night. York will host its semifinals if Tabb wins, and travel to Fredericksburg if Courtland wins.
Region I Boys Soccer Quarterfinals
Lafayette 5 King George 0
The host Rams dominated from start to finish.
Lafayette jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes thanks to David Lees’ left-footer from 15 yards out and Reeves Trott’s goal assisted by older brother Emery.
Six minutes later, The Trott brothers stretched the Rams’ lead to 3-0 with a well-executed corner kick. Calvin Mitchell sent the ball to the far post where Emery Trott headed the ball in front of goal to a wide open Reeves, who volleyed the ball into goal with a header of his own.
Goals from Jason Eckenrode and Deron Davis put Lafayette ahead 5-0 before the Rams cleared their bench for the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Jamestown 5 Park View 0
In similar fashion to the team they’ll meet in Thursday’s semifinals, Jamestown rolled to a 5-0 victory Tuesday over Park View High School in South Hill.
The Eagles led 2-0 at the half on Jeff Wolons’ goal, assisted by Noah Pescara, and Matt Cullom’s penalty kick.
Brandon Jordan opened the scoring in the second half on an assist from Wilson Coughenour, which was followed by an unassisted goal by Cap League. J.T. Scheisser put the finishing touches on the victory by converting on an assist from Matt Johnson.
Trevor Hartnett played the entire game in goal for the Eagles and needed just three saves to preserve the shutout.
Said Jamestown coach Bobby O’Brien on facing Bay Rivers District rival Lafayette on Thursday to settle a Group AA state-tournament berth: “It should be great for soccer in the community and Williamsburg area. We’re thrilled to be in this position given our up-and-down season, but they’re the undefeated team and district champs, so the pressure is really on them.
“We’re just going to go out there and play.”
Grafton 1 Chancellor 0
Grafton survived without three of the team’s best players – midfielders Brian Anderson and Michael Trepte and defender Sean Breem – to beat Chancellor 1-0 Tuesday.
After receiving a ball 30 yards out from Eric Ballman, Michael Trepte made a nice move up the middle to beat two defenders and then beat Chancellor’s keeper one-on-one for the game’s lone goal.
Clippers coach Paul Sidhu said Ballman, along with Ryan Hurry, Brian Singletary, Dom DiGangi and SoYoung Park did a fantastic job defensively marking Chancellor’s skilled attacker, Cameron Williams, and limiting his touches around the 18.
After losing Brett Butz, who was terrific in the midfield Wednesday, in the second half to an injury, Sidhu said, “We’re pretty banged up entering Thursday, but the guys know what we’re up against. Hopefully they’ll be able to go.”
GIRLS
York 2 Spotsylvania 1
York dominated the possession throughout and outshot Spotsylvania 23-3 over the full 40 minutes, but found itself behind 1-0 at the half.
In the 60th minute, Kisa Reck put the Falcons on the board with a beautiful goal off a free kick from 35 yards out to tie the game at one goal apiece. Reck nearly converted on two more deep free kicks later in the half, but both bounced off the cross bar.
Excellent ball work led to York scoring the game winner with eight minutes left in regulation.
Michelle Shin maneuvered her way nicely across midfield before passing to Reck, who relayed the ball over Jennifer Pandolf, who scored on a shot from just inside the 18.
“We talked at halftime about how we didn’t want to end our season with a game in which we dominated, because that happens sometimes in soccer,” York coach Tom Finley said.
The Falcons will await the winner of Wednesday’s Tabb-Courtland matchup to find out their semifinal opponent. Finley said he thinks his girls will be ready to try and secure the second state-tournament berth in program history, “whoever it is we end up playing.”
Jamestown 5 Chancellor 0
Aaliyah Lyttle scored two goals and Bailey Cristian scored one with two assists as Jamestown breezed past visiting Chancellor Tuesday night.
The Eagles, who fell to Tabb in last year’s Region I semifinals, will aim at a return to states following a one-year absence on Thursday when they host Warhill, which handled Park View 5-0 on the road Tuesday.
Aaliyah Lyttle scores eight minutes in on an assist from Cristian, who scored from five yards out on a great setup by Paige Majdic 15 minutes later.
With nine minutes left in the half, after Jamestown was awarded a penalty kick, Chancellor’s goalkeeper deflected back-to-back attempts from Marissa Segala before Morgan Connell blasted the third rebound try into the back of the net to give Jamestown a 3-0 lead at the break.
Eleven minutes into the second half, Majdic made a beautiful between-the-legs move to beat a defender and get into the top of the box before ripping a goal from 15 yards out.
The Eagles scored their final goal with 14:21 left in game after Cristian made great run down left side, before crossing to a wide open Aaliyah Lyttle, who finished easily in front of goal.
Tabb 0 Courtland 0
Will resume at the 15th minute mark Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Fredericksburg, with the winner advancing to play York in Thursday’s semifinals.
