RC Boys Snap 8-Game Skid

By Jeremy S. Franklin

Concluding a rebuilding year, the Rockbridge County High School boys soccer team went 1-2 last week, earning a 2-1 road win over Broadway but falling to Salem and East Rockingham.

With the win over Valley District rival Broadway on Tuesday of last week, the Wildcats (2-14-0 overall, 2-10-0 district) snapped an eight-game losing streak and completed a sweep of the season series with the Gobblers (1-15-0, 0-12-0). When the teams met on April 19 in Lexington, RC won 3-1. The Wildcats scored all five of their goals this season in those two games.

In the rematch, which took place in the rain, senior forward Maddox Jordan scored both of the Wildcats’ goals.

Salem 5, RC 0

Salem dealt RC a 5-0 defeat in a nondistrict match in Lexington on Monday of last week.

John Lindberg recorded 20 saves for the Wildcats. Elijah Clark notched two goals for the Spartans (12-2-2), while Graham Fischer and Lucas Yerton also scored.

Salem outshot RC 46-3 in the game and held a 17-2 advantage in corner kicks. But Lindberg and the Wildcat defense stood tall for most of the first half. The ’Cats’ senior goalkeeper used his feet to deny Clark from close range in the 22nd minute, and he made a diving fingertip save on Graham Cross’s 20-yard curler seven minutes later.

Yet Salem maintained the pressure, and the visitors broke through for three goals in the final eight minutes of the period. Fischer bundled in a cross from inside the 6-yard box in the 33rd minute to get the Spartans on the board. Yerton headed home T.J. Fisher’s cross in the 38th minute, and an own goal from RC would make it 3-0 just before halftime.

Lindberg produced several fine stops in the second half as well. He made a double save in the 43rd minute, repelling a 20-yard free kick as well as the point-blank follow- up, and he again got his fingers to a long shot – this time from Logan Lavinder – in the 50th.

The Spartans kept coming, and Clark’s second-half brace – an 8-yard effort in the 53rd minute and a tight-angle finish with eight minutes remaining – provided the final margin.

The Wildcats’ best offensive chances came inside the final 10 minutes. Shortly before Clark’s second goal, Ethen Camden’s long free kick from the right touchline was parried over the net by Salem reserve goalkeeper James Johnson. Noah Carroll then produced another save from Johnson when his looping shot off of a deflected corner was stopped on the final kick of the game.

ER 1, RC 0

On Thursday, the Wildcats wrapped up the season with a 1-0 home loss to district rival East Rockingham (8-80, 4-8-0).

The Eagles, who had beaten RC 2-0 on April 23 in Elkton, scored the only goal of the rematch off a penalty kick.

RC head coach Michael Kelly, who said he wasn’t sure if the penalty should’ve been called, said, “It was even more frustrating because our side was clearly fouled outside the box, but no call was awarded.” Kelly was wrapping up his first year at the helm for the Wildcats.

Before the game, the Wildcats honored their four seniors: Jordan, Lindberg and defenders David Castillo-Romero and Micah Mayr.

The Wildcats finished with almost the same record as last year, when they went 2-12-1 overall and 1-7 in the Valley District under thenhead coach Scott Youngdahl, who is now the Wildcats’ boys tennis coach.

Reflecting on the season, Kelly said, “We knew from the beginning that, because of the district we were in, wins would be hard to come by. And they were. Our competitive games were [against] Broadway and East Rock, while the others were not.”

“Defensively, we gelled very well, but that came at the expense of our offense,” added Kelly. “Our main focus was to work on what we could control such as ball control, quick passing, and movement without the ball. And in that regard, some positive steps were taken.”