The James River boys’ soccer team struggled against the class of the Three Rivers District, getting shut out on back-to-back nights. River lost at Radford last Thursday, 6-0, then put up a goose egg at Giles on Friday, 5-0.

“Giles is a very  strong team this year,” said River coach Jared Whiting. “After playing horrible against Radford we came out and played very well against Giles. Our finishing was off the mark a little, costing us several scoring opportunities. The score doesn’t tell the story of the game,” Whiting said. “Even with the loss we came away feeling good about how we played and recovered from the night before.”

The Knights bounced back on Monday as they were on the other side of a shutout, winning 5-0 over Floyd County in Springwood. Tristan Flood had two goals and two assists while River Clonch, Jacob Wagner and Andrew Lewis had one goal each. Ben Rakes had an assist. Tyler Meadows had the shutout in goal.

“We came out physical, controlled and focused, the ingredients of a sound game,” said Whiting. “We possessed strong all night and defended well. Our finishing in the final third is still off a touch but getting back in shape.”

River will stay busy with back-to-back games Thursday and Friday at home. On Thursday Carroll is here and Glenvar visits Friday.