Wildcats Hold Green Hornets Scoreless In Second Half
Facing a challenging opponent to open the season, the Rockbridge County High School girls soccer team suffered a 6-0 home loss to Shenandoah District rival Wilson Memorial on Friday night in Lexington.
It was a rematch of last year’s Region 3C quarterfinals, when the Green Hornets cruised to a 7-0 victory to end the Wildcats’ season.
WM scored five goals in the second half of the quarterfinal game, but on Friday, the Green Hornets scored all six of their goals in the first half.
First-year RC head coach Carrie Dietz, moving up from her role as an assistant coach, was pleased her team was able to hold WM scoreless in the second half. “A good defensive effort by the team,” said Dietz, who replaces Danny Wheeler at the helm. “We had a lot of new players step in and do some things. Our entire defensive unit shouldered the responsibility in the second half.”
“Wilson was very aggressive early on with their attacking, and I think as the game progressed, our team started to settle in. At halftime, we made some adjustments, and that started to show.”
RC junior goalkeeper Caden Marshall had an impressive game against a talented offense, making 21 saves. Sophomore forward Anna Feldman had RC’s lone shot attempt.
The Wildcats aim to build on the success of last year’s team, which set a program record for wins, going 10-7 overall. They entered the Region 3C tournament as the ninth seed and earned the program’s first regional tournament victory when they defeated Broadway 3-2 in the first round.
From last year’s team, the Wildcats graduated six players, led by all-district selections Madelyn Jones, Lydia Kendall and Madeline Swisher.
This year, the Wildcats have four seniors, seven juniors, five sophomores and one freshman. RC’s three senior co-captains are midfielders Lucy Boller-Pinkham, Briana Itehua-Lopez and Elsa Kerin-Rice. Boller-Pinkham was an all-region second-team selection last year.
RC welcomes three new assistant coaches: Zachery Byrd, Bryn Bissinger and Helen Otteni. Byrd will serve as a varsity assistant coach. Bissinger and Otteni are Washington and Lee University seniors who played for the W&L women’s soccer team and will coach the junior varsity team and help out with the varsity team.
After seven years in the Valley District, the Wildcats have joined the Shenandoah District and won’t have to travel as far to face district foes.
Dietz said the Wildcats have set some team goals of having better communication and being a better team unit. She noted they have improved their passing and communication in the early part of the season. The Wildcats will continue district action on Friday when they play host to Staunton before traveling to Waynesboro on Tuesday. Both nights will start with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m., with varsity action scheduled to follow at 7.
WILSON MEMORIAL’S Finley Sawyers takes the ball near the goal while RC junior Destiney Peach (3) and senior Alice Gresham (4) play defense. Protecting the net is RC junior goalkeeper Caden Marshall, who made 21 saves. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
RC SOPHOMORE defender Abigail Guashpa tries to get her foot on the ball to maintain possession while closely guarded by a WM player. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
