Boller-Pinkham’s Hat Trick Leads RC Girls To 8-0 Win
The Rockbridge County High School girls soccer team split a pair of Valley District games last week, coasting to an 8-0 home win over East Rockingham on Thursday before falling at Turner Ashby 5-2 on Friday.
At the end of the week, the Wildcats were 8-4-0, both overall and in the district.
The game against East Rockingham (1-11-2 overall, 0-10-2 district) was played on the turf field at The Fields at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista because, due to an inclement weather postponement, there was an RC boys lacrosse game going on at RC’s home field. The soccer game was originally scheduled for last Tuesday before it was postponed due to a thunderstorm.
“Big thanks to SVU, making this available this evening to keep us on schedule,” said RC head coach Danny Wheeler. The RC coach noted that, although the Wildcats had played on turf fields before, this was the first time this group had played at SVU.
The Wildcats went on the attack early and often, scoring six goals in the first half.
Lucy Boller-Pinkham, who led RC with three goals, scored about 10 minutes in, and Lydia Kendall scored shortly after that to make it 2-0. Madelyn Jones then put in a goal on an assist from Boller-Pinkham about 12 ½ minutes into the game to make it 3-0. The next goal for RC was an own goal by ER’s Carly Liddle. Before halftime, the Wildcats scored again on a penalty kick from Kendall, and RC’s final goal of the first half was from Jones.
In the second half, Boller-Pinkham scored two more goals, getting the Wildcats’ eighth goal with about 21 minutes to go, and the game ended 20 minutes early due to the eight-goal mercy rule.
With the Wildcats possessing the ball for the vast majority of the game, RC sophomore goalkeeper Caden Marshall was rarely challenged, having to make just one save.
For the Eagles, Camila Suarez Nunez made five saves. When the teams previously met on April 14 in Elkton, RC also won 8-0.
“You always appreciate the score,” said Wheeler. “There are a number of things that we need to brush up, clean up on for the remainder of the season, going into playoffs, and we will definitely address that.”
“It was a team effort,” he added. “The ladies up front played a great game, defense. We only had one save, so defense did their part.”
TA 5, RC 2
Despite leading 2-0 in the first half, the Wildcats suffered a 5-2 road loss to Turner Ashby (9-6-0, 8-4-0) on Friday.
With the win, the Knights completed a sweep of the regularseason series with the Wildcats. When the teams met on April 22 in Lexington, TA eked out a 4-3 win.
Good passing and dribbling led to RC’s goals, both scored by Boller-Pinkham, with one assisted by Jones.
The Knights then responded and tied the game 2-2 before halftime. In the second half, TA scored three more goals to pull away.
In goal, Marshall made five saves for the Wildcats.
“We had great shots on goal throughout the night, some nice cross passes,” said Wheeler. “We had some shots that came off the post. They just didn’t drop to our favor. We just controlled our momentum for much of the game. The last five minutes is where we weren’t able to hold their offense back. … We ended up in some compromising situations with some player replacements in the last five minutes.”
Wheeler added that it was “a great team effort” for the Wildcats in “a very competitive game.”
The Wildcats were scheduled to play host to Rocktown last night. Today, Wednesday, they’ll play at Staunton, with the varsity game only at 5:30 p.m. They’ll conclude the regular season at home against district rival Broadway, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity game scheduled to follow at 7.
After this week’s games, the Wildcats will find out their draw for the Region 3C tournament.
AS THREE ER players surround her, RC sophomore midfielder Emily Jones dribbles the ball while teammates Addision Littlefair Small (11) and Madelyn Jones (center) watch. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
WILDCAT SENIOR forward Madelyn Jones dribbles the ball toward the goal as an ER player tries to stop her and ER goalkeeper Camilla Suarez Nunez awaits her shot. Jones scored two goals. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
RC SENIOR defender Brooke Eichelberger (10) maintains possession of the ball while senior teammate Lydia Kendall (7) signals to her and ER’s Addison Terry (22) approaches. Watching nearby are RC junior Briana Itehua-Lopez (second from right) and ER’s Makayla Darcus (15). (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
