Wildcats Slam Riverheads, Edge Fort
Continuing to play at a high level, the Rockbridge County High School boys soccer team earned a pair of Shenandoah District wins last week, defeating Riverheads 8-1 last Tuesday at home before picking up a 2-1 road win over Fort Defiance on Thursday.
With the victories, the Wildcats improved to 5-2-0 and extended their winning streak to four games.
In the game against Riverheads (1-6-0 overall and district), the Wildcats used their speed and athleticism to earn a dominant win.
RC led 5-0 at halftime and scored three more goals in the second half.
“I thought we played really well,” said RC head coach Jeffrey Tomlin. “Riverheads was an organized team for a majority of the game. Despite the scoreline, it was still a tough team to break down.”
“I think they have a little bit of a lack of experience in the back line, so some of our goals came from their mistakes,” added Tomlin.
WILDCAT JUNIOR midfielder Jonathan Roy (8) goes to the ball as Riverheads goalkeeper Chris Dodson and defenders try to stop him. Roy scored RC’s final goal. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
Cooper Fox led the Wildcats with three goals and had an assist, while Jonathan Soriano Caceres scored two goals and dished out one assist. Tomlin said Caceres, who played as both a winger on offense and a defender, “did excellent in both spots. He’s such a dynamic player and has a skillset where he’s really good defensively and really good attacking with the ball. He’s just so creative and fast.”
Contributing one goal each for the Wildcats were Dante Kelly, Jonathan Roy and Carlos Reynolds, who scored on a penalty kick. Charlie Cosgriff led RC with two assists. “Charlie worked really hard today on the wing, making opportunities for us, being creative,’ said Tomlin.
The Gladiators scored their only goal on a penalty kick by Jonah Williams to cut RC’s lead to 6-1 about six-and-ahalf minutes into the second half, but the Wildcats scored two more goals to finish the game.
In goal for the Wildcats, Patrick De Marcellus made two saves, and Jacob Wallace had one save.
Touching more on the keys to the dominant win, Tomlin said, “I thought we played possession really well when we had to, and that’s the only way we we’re gonna beat this team because they have a very big, physical team. Just the big ball over the top, I didn’t think was going to work, and obviously we have some fast guys, so I chose not to play that way.”
RC 2, FD 1
The Wildcats earned a 2-1 road win over Fort Defiance (3-4-0 overall, 3-3-0 district) on Thursday.
Fox scored both of RC’s goals. He scored his first early in the game on a through ball from Kelly. After receiving the ball, Fox kicked the ball right into the roof of the net. “Great goal to get us started,” said Tomlin.
A Fort player then got a red card, but even with the oneplayer advantage, “It was still a very back-and-forth game,” said Tomlin.
The score remained 1-0 until about five minutes left in the game when Parker Fountain passed the ball to Fox, who scored with his left foot. For the season, Fox, a junior, has scored 11 goals, with three hat tricks (threegoal performances). “He’s been a really prolific striker,” said Tomlin.
With about two minutes left, Fort’s Alexia Candelario- Jose received the ball near the Wildcats’ goal on a throw-in. He was unmarked, picked up the ball in the air, and scored.
The Wildcats got the ball on offense in the final two minutes of the game and kept Fort from getting any more scoring chances.
For the game, the Wildcats had 12 shots on goal, while the Indians had five.
De Marcellus played the first half in goal for RC and made three saves, and Wallace played the second half and made two.
Reviewing the two games, Tomlin said, “It was a good week for us.”
The Wildcats will continue district action at home against Alleghany on Friday before playing host to Staunton on Tuesday. Both matches will start with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity games scheduled to follow at 7.
