The Lord Botetourt girls edged James River, 3-2, last week to remain undefeated in soccer and sweep the season series from their county rivals.

Heather Finley opened the scoring early for the visiting Cavaliers with a dramatic end line run, shooting form an impossible angle and slipping the shot past veteran keeper Colleen Peery. River’s Kaitlyn McClung answered less than a minute later off an assist from Catherine Amos but LB’s Mary Randolph netted a chip header at the midpoint of the half.  The 2-1 score line held to the break, despite multiple attacking runs from both teams.

Finley finished again with just under seven minutes remaining to give the Cavaliers a 3-1 edge. Olivia Baker, assisted by McClung, closed the gap to one goal in the closing two minutes, keeping the match exciting to the end.  Despite a valiant effort, the Knights could not finish again and the game concluded 3-2, the same margin as their first meeting.

Both keepers were busy throughout the game.  James River’s Colleen Peery recorded 11 saves and Lord Botetourt’s Olivia Assenat had a dozen.

LB hosted Northside on Friday and took a 4-1 win over the visiting Vikings. Finley had two more goals, Alexis Borovich had a goal and Brooke Kreider scored on a head. Assists went to Autumn Bonhotel, Makenzie Tuck, Marlee Newsome and Kreider.

With the win LB improved to 6-0-2 on the season. The Cavaliers were rained out of a match at William Byrd on Tuesday and that was rescheduled for May 3. On Thursday they’re in Lynchburg to take on Liberty Christian Academy and Friday the girls will host William Fleming in Daleville.

James River bounced back with an 8-0 shutout win at Floyd County on Thursday. In the first five minutes of play Morgan Marshall scored with an assist from Bridgette West.  The balance of the half was dominated by midfield possession with the Knights clearly in command, but not finding the back of the net. With less than two minutes in the half, Rachel Hix finished a Brook Ford corner kick, at the back post, to take James River into the break with a 2-0 lead.

The tempo increased in the second half with the Knights scoring six goals in just over 30 minutes.  Morgan Bryan forced an own goal by Floyd with a sharp cross into the box, deflecting off of a defender in the opening minutes of the period. Bryan scored again with an assist from Catherine Amos with 25 minutes remaining in the half. Amos then scored at the midpoint of the period, assisted by Tessa Jones. Kaitlyn McClung followed shortly, converting an assist from Abby Wentworth. Amos scored with an assist from McClung, followed by an unassisted goal from Bryan to bring the score to 8-0 with seven minutes on the clock.

James River keeper Haley Meadows recorded five saves, including a couple of dramatic rescues in heavy traffic.  Floyd’s goal keeper, Emily Hungate, was kept very busy with 22 saves.

The Knights are now 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the district. River will host Glenvar today at 5:30 p.m., and on Monday, River will return the trip to Glenvar.