In the words of Rams coach Brian Sorrell, whenever Lafayette and Jamestown meet in boys soccer, “it’s always epic.”
Thursday’s Region I semifinal was no exception.
With a state tournament berth on the line, the two Bay Rivers District arch rivals were unable to break a scoreless tie after battling through 80 minutes of regulation and four overtime periods before the Rams edged the Eagles 4-3 in penalty kicks.
Lafayette converted on its first four penalty kick attempts taken by Emery Trott, Calvin Mitchell, Kamram Rahman and Reeves Trott, respectively. After Jeff Wolons missed wide right on Jamestown’s third attempt, Tim Slade kept the Eagles alive by drilling home their fourth kick.
That sent Matt Beatty to the penalty spot with a chance to win it for Lafayette – holding a 4-3 advantage in kicks – but Beatty’s attempt clanked off the cross bar to give Jamestown new life.
On Jeff Toler’s ensuing attempt for the Eagles, Rams senior keeper Alex Emerson guessed perfectly to deflect the shot away while falling to his left. Emerson popped right up to celebrate, but was quickly sent back to the ground as his teammates mobbed him in front of goal.
“There’s no better feeling,” said the first team all-Bay Rivers District keeper. “I usually always go the opposite of where people look, and [Toler] looked over my right shoulder, so I went left and it worked out.”
The win granted Lafayette its first state tournament berth since 2004 and a spot in Friday’s Region I championship against Culpeper, which edged Grafton 2-1 on Thursday. The loss snapped Jamestown’s run of consecutive appearances in the Region I title game at six.
“I’ve been coach [at Lafayette] for 15 years, and there’s been one, maybe two games against Jamestown that haven’t come down to the wire,” Sorrell said after the game. “It’s always epic. That’s really the only word I can think of.”
After Jamestown’s Jeff Wolons provided the game’s first threatening scoring chances with a 20-yarder that sailed just wide, the Eagles’ Brandon Jordan followed moments later with a shot from 15 yards out that drew an impressive diving save from Emerson.
Brothers Reeves and Emery Trott sparked Lafayette’s attack that began to find its stride during the final 20 minutes of the first half.
Emery missed just wide with a header set up by Reeves’ free kick in the 22nd minute before Reeves’ left-footed rip from 20 yards out bounced off the left post.
Things became increasingly chippy in the second half as both sides tried frantically to push across a go-ahead goal.
With 19:35 left in regulation, a beautiful string of back-and-forth passing between Reeves Trott, Calvin Mitchell and Deron Davis led to the best scoring chance of the second half, but ended with Mitchell’s attempt from 7 yards out being tipped over the crossbar by Jamestown’s Trevor Hartnett.
Hartnett made a pair of nice saves in the first two overtime periods to deny each Trott brother a goal.
The most dangerous opportunity of the extra time, however, came with 1:03 left in the fourth and final overtime period after Reeves Trott sent a well-placed pass up ahead to David Lees who, with a defender on his hip, had only the keeper to beat. Lees managed to squeak a shot under Hartnett as he dove to grab the ball from Lees’ feet, but the attempt slowly trickled wide left and out of bounds.
“We just couldn’t put the ball in the net,” Sorrell said. “Neither of us could. I felt like Jamestown came out strong, but we didn’t capitalize on the number of chances we had.
“But I’m glad we hung in there, and Alex [Emerson] showed there at the end why he’s such an exceptional goalkeeper.”
