The Rockbridge County High School boys soccer team suffered a pair of Valley District losses last week, falling to Harrisonburg 5-1 last Monday before suffering a 4-2 home loss to East Rockingham on Thursday.
With the setbacks, the Wildcats (2-10-0 overall, 1-10-0 district) saw their losing streak extended to eight games.
Missing some starters out with injuries at Harrisonburg, the Wildcats fell behind 1-0 when the Blue Streaks (7-5-1, 7-3-1) scored about 25 minutes into the game. Harrisonburg scored its second goal on a corner kick to take a 2-0 lead before halftime.
The Wildcats got on the scoreboard in the second half when Charlie Cosgriff stole the ball, dribbled around the goalkeeper, and put the ball in the net to cut Harrisonburg’s lead to 2-1. RC almost got its second goal when Cosgriff passed the ball to Cooper Fox to set up a shot, but the shot was stopped. Fox led the Wildcats with two shots on goal.
The Blues Streaks scored the final three goals of the game to put it away in the second half.
RC head coach Jeff Tomlin said his team “played the way we’d been playing, possession-wise. We played really well. Harrisonburg also played really well.”
In goal, RC senior Eliot McDonald played the entire game and made six saves.
ER 4, RC 2
Playing at The Fields at Southern Virginia University on Thursday, the Wildcats lost 4-2 to East Rockingham (4-11-0, 2-9-0) in Buena Vista.
The game was played on the turf field at SVU because, due to a postponement because of inclement weather, there was an RC boys lacrosse game going on at RC’s home field.
The showdown was a rematch of the double-overtime thriller in April, which the Wildcats won 5-4 in Elkton, with the game starting on April 14 before it was stopped by lightning and then concluded on April 21.
On Thursday, ER took a 1-0 lead when Jonathan Ramirez Sevilla scored about midway through the first half.
With just under 15 minutes left in the first half, RC’s Noah Carroll broke away from defenders and put in a goal to tie the game 1-1.
Moments later, ER’s Gilberto Bautista Jimenez scored to give the visitors a 2-1 lead that they carried into halftime.
About 10 minutes into the second half, a goal by Derian Martinez gave the Eagles a 3-1 lead. Moments later, Jimenez scored again to make it 4-1.
After the Wildcats missed two shots off the post and crossbar, Carroll scored his second goal to cut ER’s lead to 4-2, but RC could get no closer.
McDonald played the first half in goal for the Wildcats, making three saves. In the second half, RC junior goalkeeper Jacob Wallace had one save. For ER, goalkeeper Hayden Baugher made three saves.
“East Rock came with a really good game plan,” said Tomlin. “They held us with an offside trap. They played a really high defensive line, and a way we like to play is to work it through the middle and then to get through and with the space in behind. They made it to where the space in behind didn’t exist. … We were not able to fix it in time.”
“I was really proud of the fight at the end of the game,” added Tomlin. “I think that we just need to start that earlier.”
“Like East Rock, for example, they had a throw-in while they were up 4-1, and they’re sprinting to take it, they’re fighting like they’re down,” Tomlin continued. “We’ve got to fight like we’re down all the time because that’s the urgency it takes to take these teams. I tell the guys all the time, East Rock’s not gonna show up to lose. They’re gonna show up to fight for the game.”
Tomlin was grateful to SVU for allowing the game to be played on the field where he has served as an assistant coach for the SVU men’s soccer game for the last few years and where he played in college as a defender and goalkeeper for the Knights. “This was a great homecoming to coach the team that I’ve worked with the past two months as the program head, and to be on this field, I was really happy about it.”
The Wildcats were scheduled to play host to Turner Ashby on Monday in a game postponed from last Friday due to a thunderstorm before playing at Rocktown last night. RC will play a nondistrict game at Staunton tonight, Wednesday, with the varsity game only at 7 p.m., before concluding the season at home against district rival Broadway on Friday, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity game scheduled to follow at 7.
WILDCAT SENIOR Noah Carroll takes the ball toward the goal as ER goalkeeper Hayden Baugher tries to stop him. Carroll scored both of RCs’ goals. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
RC SENIOR defender Oscar Kosky gets his head on the ball while ER’s Dawan Johnmery (23) guards him and Wildcat sophomore forward Cooper Fox (13) approaches. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
WILDCAT SENIOR goalkeeper Eliot McDonald leaps to make one of his three saves in the first half as ER’s Isaiah Yetter (3) and Jose Cortez (7) approach and RCs’ Charlie Cosgriff (17) gets back to play defense. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
