Photos by Brian Hoffman
The Lord Botetourt girls soccer team was off to Crozet on Tuesday to meet Western Albemarle in the quarterfinal round of the Region 3D state tournament. The winner will play in the state semifinals on Friday afternoon at Monticello High School.
Lord Botetourt clinched a spot in the state semifinal when the Cavaliers shut out Abingdon on Tuesday, May 28, by a 3-0 score in the Region 3D semifinal. Cave Spring beat top-seeded Magna Vista in the other semifinal, giving LB a home game for the region championship on Friday against the Knights.
Cave Spring started fast, controlling the action for most of the first half and taking a 2-0 lead. However, the Cavaliers got on the board late in the half and trailed 2-1 at intermission.
The game went deep into the second half without another score until LB’s Emma Rice put one into the cage to tie the game at 2-2. After two regular overtimes and two sudden victory overtimes, nothing was settled, so the game went to penalty kicks.
Both teams converted their first two penalty kicks, but on the third try the Cave Spring keeper made a save and the Knights converted. Then, on the fourth round, LB’s kick hit the cross bar and Cave Spring converted again to clinch the win.
With the loss LB fell to 15-6 on the season and, more importantly, had to travel to Region 3C champ Western Albemarle on Tuesday while Cave Spring got a home game. The Warriors were 17-1-1 prior to Tuesday’s results, which were too late for publication.
Tuesday’s winner advances to the state semifinal round with games at Monticello High at 1 and 3 p.m. on Friday. The Class 3 girls championship is Saturday at Monticello at 12:30 p.m.
