Park View entered Tuesday’s Colonial Conference 25 semifinal match as the No. 1 overall seed, but York left no question as to which team was better right from the start.
The No. 4-seeded Falcons went up 2-0 in the first 15 minutes of the opening half and pulled away for a 4-1 victory over the Dragons at Wanner Stadium to clinch their second regional tournament appearance in three years.
“[The region tournament] was our biggest goal,” said sophomore Bailey McClure, who tallied one goal and one assist in the win for York.
First, the Falcons (9-3-4) will meet Bay Rivers District rival Lafayette, which defeated Poquoson 4-1 in the other semifinal, in the Conference 25 championship game at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Behind the relentless attacking pressure from Bailey McClure, Max Poelker and Cameron Dail, York dominated possession throughout but struggled to connect their passes in the final third of the field in the early going.
York broke through 12 minutes into the game when McClure slotted a pass from inside the box across to Poelker, who drilled a left-footed strike into the back of the net.
Roughly three minutes later, the Falcons were threatening again when McClure was tripped up by Park View’s keeper in the box. Hunter Strack took the penalty kick from York and tucked the attempt inside the bottom right corner of goal to give York a 2-0 lead.
Park View kept itself in the game with a nice goal from midfielder Adrian Guerrero, who scored from 20 yards out with 7:57 left in the first half. The Dragons nearly scored again moments later, but Johnathan Upton’s shot across goal from the left side rolled wide of the net as the score remained 2-1 in favor of York entering the break.
The Falcons took a 3-1 lead 16 minutes into the second half after Cameron Dail used some nifty footwork to beat a defender down the right side and get into the box before ripping a cross that deflected off a Park View defender and into goal.
With the momentum entirely in their favor, the Falcons found the back of the net less than a minute later after McClure intercepted a pass on his own side of the field and outran his defender into the box before chipping a shot around Park View’s keeper to put York ahead 4-1.
McClure said with little knowledge of their opponent and their tendencies entering the match, he and his teammates’ approach was to apply heavy pressure early and often.
“Everyone was just going hard calling for the ball,” McClure said. “After we got that first one, we started working the ball around and played really well.”
York 4 Park View 1
Goals: York- Poelker, Strack, McClure, Dail; PV- Guerrero
Assists: York- McClure
Eckenrode, Trott Lead Lafayette Past Poquoson
Reeves Trott and Jason Eckenrode put on a clinic in Lafayette’s 4-1 Colonial Conference 25 semifinal win over Poquoson on Tuesday.
The two standouts used an array of offensive moves to score all four of the Rams’ goals, with Eckenrode’s hat trick leading the way. Trott finished with one goal and two assists.
Eckenrode scored two of his goals in the first 12 minutes — the first on an assist from Doron Davis and the second from Trott — as Lafayette gained control of the tempo immediately.
Trott provided the prettiest goal of the evening less than three minutes after Eckenrode’s second score after collecting the ball 25 yards out before turning and firing an arching shot that tucked inside the right post.
The Islanders would cut their deficit to 3-1 at the midway point of the first half after Noah Gendron headed in a cross from Dante Ellenwood, but the score would remain 3-1 at the break.
Less than a minute into the second half, though, Eckenrode and Trott hooked up again after Trott caught Eckenrode in stride who then fired a left-footer past Poquoson’s keeper for his third goal of the game.
“They synced together really well tonight,” Lafayette Coach Brian Sorrell, who achieved the 150th coaching victory of his career Tuesday, said of Eckenrode and Trott. “And they’re both sophomores, so they’re only going to get better. I’m pretty excited about that.”
Lafayette 4 Poquoson 1
Goals: Lafayette- Eckenrode (3), Trott. Poq- Gendron
Assists: Lafayette- Trott (2), Davis. Poq- Ellenwood
Bruton Rolls Past Windsor in Conference 33 Opener
Hunter Embry scored three goals and Michael Wilson each added two as Bruton dominated Windsor in both team’s 2A Conference 33 opener.
Miguel Martinez tallied three assists in the win for the Panthers, who play Nandua at 5:30 in this evening’s semifinals for a spot in next week’s 2A East Region tournament.
Bruton 8 Windsor 0
Goals: Embry (3), Wilson (2), Martinez, Donkor, Robinson.
Assists: Martinez (3), Tenbusch (2), Rice
Saves: Bruton- Matthews (4). Windsor- McManaway (3)
