Photo by Brian Hoffman
The Lord Botetourt boys opened their Blue Ridge District soccer schedule last week and picked up two wins. The Cavaliers beat Staunton River in Moneta, 5-0, then edged arch rival William Byrd in Daleville, 3-2.
The Cavaliers came out swinging at Staunton River with Will Hall finding Kalob Daniels, who made a quick run down the sideline before draining the shot to make it 1-0. Soon after, goalkeeper JB Cook played a deep ball that made it over the back line where Hall took possession and beat the keeper one-on-one to take a 2-0 lead.
Later in the first half the Cavaliers were in Eagles territory when Daniels took the ball down the sideline and passed it to Andres Barroso, who hit a beautiful left-footed shot to give the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead. Robbie Sanchez converted a penalty kick to make it 4-0 at the half, and LB put some icing on the cake when Anthony Foster scored his first career goal off an assist from Isaac Alderman for the final score.
Last Friday LB had a nail-biter with William Byrd. Hall got things started when he made a beautiful run down the left side of the pitch and got into the box to cross the ball. The cross deflected to the middle of the 18 where Barroso cleaned up the loose ball and scored the Cavs’ first goal of the evening.
The Cavaliers saw multiple chances in the first half but the score remained 1-0 at the half. The Terriers were quick to respond after halftime with a goal of their own in the first three minutes to level the score at 1-1.
With about 10 minutes left in regulation, Hall broke down the right side of the field from a beautiful through ball to Alderman, who tapped it into the back of the net. The Terriers then tied the game off a direct kick and the contest was all knotted up at 2-2 after regulation time.
The Cavaliers held most of the momentum in the two overtime periods, but it came down to the final seconds to decide the match. LB recovered a goal kick and was able to knock the ball around to switch the field, then Barroso found Hall at the back post to give the Cavaliers the game-winning goal right before the final whistle.
With the win LB improved to 2-4 overall. The Cavaliers were scheduled to play at William Fleming on Tuesday, then host Salem on Thursday followed by an away game at Northside Friday.
