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Spotswood dealt the visiting Rockbridge County High School boys soccer team a 7-1 defeat in a Valley District match on Friday.
The Blazers (12-2 overall, 5-2 district) jumped on the Wildcats (2-9, 1-4) for four first-half goals en route to a comfortable home win.
John Lindberg made 12 saves for RC, while Emmet King-Bond pulled a goal back for the ’Cats in the second half. But overall, the Wildcats struggled against one of the elite squads in the district – and some early mistakes didn’t help their cause.
“They are a very good team. They do all the right things, and they make it hard on us with their fluidity,” RC head coach Scott Youngdahl said of Spotswood. “We had some miscues that led to easy shots. They always seemed just a little bit quicker to the ball, and we were reacting to it.”
Lindberg turned in another solid performance in goal, accumulating double-digit saves as the Blazers kept him busy throughout the night.
“He’s always had great reflexes, and now he’s just quicker,” Youngdahl said of RC’s junior goalkeeper. “He battled the whole game.”
Even though a comeback wasn’t in the cards, the Wildcats put together a better performance in the second half. Youngdahl praised the play of Jorge Martinez Lopez in the defensive third and Noah Carroll up top.
With Carroll leading the pressure against the Spotswood back line, RC started to create some chances of its own. The Wildcats were rewarded well into the second half, when King-Bond collected a deflected corner kick and buried one in the top left corner of the goal from just outside the 18-yard box.
RC will wrap up Valley District play with a busy week. The Wildcats were slated to entertain Turner Ashby last night, they’ll play host to Harrisonburg on Thursday’s Senior Night, and they’ll end the week with a trip to Broadway on Friday. The Wildcats will conclude the regular season with nondistrict action at home against James River next Wednesday, May 17. All nights will start with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m.
