RC Boys Soccer Nabs 10th Win Of Season
The Rockbridge County High School boys soccer team won two of three games last week, falling to Rocktown 3-0 last Monday before defeating Shenandoah District rivals Wilson Memorial and Riverheads.
The Wildcats ended the week at 10-5 overall and 10-4 in the district.
“It’s nice to get 10 wins on the season,” said second-year RC head coach Jeffrey Tomlin of a win total the Wildcats hadn’t achieved in the last few years. “Our program has turned the corner.”
In RC’s lone home game last week, played at The Fields at Southern Virginia University due to upcoming work to install artificial turf on RC’s home field, the Wildcats defeated Wilson Memorial 1-0 last Tuesday. With the victory, the Wildcats completed a regular-season sweep of the Green Hornets (7-8 overall, 6-8 district). When the teams met in the season opener on March 20 in Fishersville, RC won 5-2. Tomlin said the rematch “was a really good one. We knew they were gonna be a tough team.”
Both RC and WM had a lot of chances to score in the first half, but neither team was able to convert. “In the first half, we were having a hard time breaking their backline With about 20 minutes left in the game, the Wildcats scored when Cooper Fox put the ball in the goal after receiving a through ball from Charlie Cosgriff. Tomlin praised Cosgriff for finding the gap to get the ball to Fox. “He’s a really creative, direct player,” said Tomlin.
The RC coach was also pleased Fox was able to get another goal, his 15th of the season, after not scoring for several games. “It was nice for him to get out of that slump.”
After Fox’s goal, it was a back-and-forth game, with neither team scoring.
In goal for the Wildcats, RC senior Jacob Wallace made one save in the first half, and senior Patrick De Marcellus made two saves in the second half, including a big one in the last 10 minutes when he was one-on-one with a WM winger.
RC 9, Riverheads 1
The Wildcats dominated Riverheads (2-12 overall and district) on Thursday to cruise to a 9-1 road win.
RC, which had beaten Riverheads 8-1 on April 14 in Lexington, got its offense going early in the rematch.
RC’s Brennan Roeder, who had been playing at center back, moved up into the midfield and scored off a clear, kicking the ball from the top right corner of the box into the bottom left of the goal.
Teammate Dante Kelly scored the Wildcats’ second goal immediately after that, kicking the ball in the goal after a shot by Fox was deflected.
The Wildcats extended their lead to 3-0 when Parker Fountain scored on an assist from Colin Murphy. Tomlin said Murphy “has been an absolute stud for us the past few weeks, playing left back and middle back.”
RC went up 4-0 when Colin Caputo scored his first goal of the season, and Roeder made it 5-0 just before halftime by firing a free kick into the net. “Brennan’s a really good free-kick taker,” said Tomlin.
In the second half, Fox scored the Wildcats’ next two goals to make it 7-0 and to give him a team-leading 17 goals for the season. Jonathan Roy assisted on the first, and Darby Cosgriff assisted on the second. For the game, Darby, a freshman midfielder, had two assists. Tomlin said the younger Coshriff “has such good discipline in the midfield, always knows where he’s at.”
Noah Alexander scored the Wildcats’ eighth goal before Woodrow Simpson scored the Gladiators’ lone goal to cut RC’s lead to 8-1. Juan Kim then scored the Wildcats’ ninth goal with 18 minutes left to end the game early due to the eight-goal mercy rule.
Rocktown 3, RC 0
The Wildcats started the week with a 3-0 nondistrict road loss to Rocktown (12-12), which is battling for the Valley District title, on Monday of last week in Harrisonburg.
Otis Bawcombe scored the Raptors’ first goal in the 20th minute on a shot from outside the box. Rocktown went up 2-0 later in the half when the ball went off an RC defender and into the goal.
In the latter part of the second half, the Raptors put the game away with a goal by Kaleth Shenk Tejedor.
In goal for RC, De Marcellus made five saves in the first half, and Wallace had four saves in the second half.
Tomlin said the Raptors are “are a really tough team and really well coached.”
The Wildcats were scheduled to play host to Fort Defiance at SVU Monday before concluding the season with district action at Alleghany last night, starting with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m. RC will then await its Region 3C tournament draw. For updates, visit www.thenewsgazette. com.
RC JUNIOR defender Brennan Roeder attempts to get his foot on the ball while teammate Noah Alexander (left) watches. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
WILDCAT JUNIOR forward Parker Fountain battles Wilson Memorial’s Cesar Carranza Hernandez (8) for the ball as RC junior defender Jonathan Soriano Cacers (4) watches. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
