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With a b alanced a ttack and strong defense, the Rockbridge County High School boys soccer team earned its first win of the season on Friday, a 3-1 home win over Valley District rival Broadway.
The Wildcats (1-5-0 overall, 1-3-0 district), bouncing back from an 8-0 road loss to William Monroe on Tuesday of last week, split a pair of 3-1 games with Broadway last year. The win on Friday was the first under new head coach Michael Kelly.
Kelly said one of the keys to the win was “a lot of hard work.”
“It was a game they immediately wanted to have, especially after their last game,” he added. “Something may have clicked in moving the ball. They became a little better in this game.”
Another key was taking shots from a distance and then following up on those shots, Kelly said.
John David scored the first goal for RC. The Wildcats’ next goal came from freshman Jonathan Roy, who moved up from the junior varsity squad. Roy, who normally plays as a defender, gave “a good offensive effort,” said Kelly. Scoring the Wildcats’ final goal was Anton Lucke.
Kelly said RC goalkeeper John Lindberg played well to keep the Gobblers to one goal, and the defense “was very strong,” to support him.
The RC coach said he hoped the win would give his players “a little confidence and a little belief in their effort.”
WM 8, RC 0
RC suffered an 8-0 road loss to William Monroe (51-3, 3-0-2) on Tuesday of last week in Stanardsville.
Kelly said it was “a tremendously long bus ride” that made for a tough and late night for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats were scheduled to have district road games against Harrisonburg on Monday and against East Rockingham last night, and they’ll play host to Harrisonburg on Friday, starting with junior varsity action at 6:30 p.m.
