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The Rockbridge County High School boys soccer team suffered a pair of onegoal road losses in nondistrict games last week, falling to Stuarts Draft 2-1 last Monday before coming up short 4-3 in its comeback bid against James River on Friday.
Against Stuarts Draft (3-1), RC assistant coach Paul Gregory said the Wildcats gave up two fluke goals earlier. With head coach Scott Youngdahl out sick, Gregory was in charge of the team.
Shortly after the Cougars’ second goal, John Huss Clement scored “a beautiful solo shot to the far upper 90 from outside the box,” said Gregory.
Gregory said the remaining 60 minutes of the game “was an ugly slugfest.”
Cole Boller-Pinkham and Brian Kendall each got off one shot. RC junior goalkeeper John Lindberg made three saves.
JR 4, RC 3
Playing in the rain on Friday, the Wildcats nearly came back from a 3-0 deficit, but James River (4-0) prevailed 4-3 in Buchanan.
Back coaching for the Wildcats, Youngdahl gave credit to the Knights. “Congratulations to their team,” he said. “They played during their spring break.” Youngdahl noted that the Knights were missing some of their key players.
JR scored two goals early in the game and then notched its third goal off a corner kick. Late in the first half, RC’s Evan Roney got a through ball and scored to cut the Knights’ lead to 3-1. Ten minutes into the second half, Kendall scored to trim JR’s lead to 3-2. The Knights responded with another goal off a corner kick, extending their lead to 4-2.
RC’s Jorge Martinez scored the final goal of the game off an assist from Boller-Pinkham, who had taken a ball to the face late in the first half and had to sit the first 20 minutes of the second half, following concussion protocol.
The Wildcats had three shots on goal in the last three minutes, hitting JR’s goalkeeper every time. Youngdahl praised the JR goalkeeper for “making some crazy, athletic plays.” In goal for RC, Lindberg made seven saves.
After spring break this week, the Wildcats will return to action with two tough road games, taking on Staunton on Monday before their Valley District opener at Harrisonburg on Tuesday. Both nights will start with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m.
