RC Boys Soccer Skid At Seven

Goalkeeper Lindberg Makes 16 Saves In Home Loss

The Rockbridge County High School boys soccer team suffered three Valley District losses last week, falling 5-0 to both Turner Ashby and Spotswood before losing 6-0 to William Monroe.

With the losses , the Wildcats (1-12-0 overall, 1-9-0 district) ended the week on a sevengame losing streak.

TA (13-1-0, 10-1-0), which had beaten the Wildcats 4-0 on April 12 in Bridgewater, delivered another shutout on Tuesday of last week in Lexington.

The following night, Spotswood (11-2-1, 7-2-1), which had beaten RC 6-0 on April 9 in Lexington, captured another shutout in Penn Laird. Spotswood would travel to TA on Friday, with TA winning 1-0 to split the regularseason series.

In last Wednesday’s game, Dany Lagos Arias led Spotswood with two goals, while Brayan Molina Arevalo had a goal and an assist for the Trailblazers.

On Friday in Lexington, the Wildcats got a strong performance from senior goalkeeper John Lindberg, who made 16 saves in the 6-0 loss to William Monro e (8-4-2, 6-3-1).

With the win, the Dragons completed a sweep of the season series with the Wildcats When the teams met on April 16 in Stanardsville, WM won 8-0.

In the rematch, WM led 4-0 at the half, but the Wildcats stepped up defensively in the second half to limit the Dragons to two goals and prevented the game from ending early due to the eight-goal mercy rule.

Ethan Baker scored from Lindberg’s right side to give WM a 1-0 lead just under five minutes into the game. It was the first of a game-high three goals for Baker. Brendan Myers scored about 10 minutes later to extend WM’s lead to 2-0. Baker then made it 3-0 with 15:24 left in the first half, and Brayan Mencia scored WM’s fourth goal 5:45 before the break.

In the second half, Lindberg made several acrobatic saves, but Baker scored again 12 minutes in to extend the Dragons’ lead to 5-0. The final goal came from Bryan Rodriguez with 26:28 left in the game. For the rest of the game, the Wildcats weren’t able to get any shots off against the speedy and athletic Dragons, but Lindberg and the Wildcats’ defenders prevented the Dragons from doing any more damage.

RC head coach Michael Kelly said his team played better defensively in the second half, but added, “Our defense was so good, we sacrifice our offense.” He said WM “is a tough team.”

Noting improvement from his players, Kelly continued, “They’re learning to go to the ball. We’re learning how to lock down their defense in their end. That’s a work in progress. That is something we’re trying to do. Going first to the ball and working on our first touch because that is what need to build from the midfield on.”

The Wildcats were scheduled to play host to Salem on Monday before traveling to Broadway last night. They’ll conclude the season when they play host to district rival East Rockingham on Thursday, as they attempt to avenge a 2-0 loss to the Eagles on April 23. The night will start with junior varsity action at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity game scheduled for 7 p.m. Before the varsity game, the Wildcats will honor their four seniors: Lindberg, David Castillo, Maddox Jordan and Micah Mayr.