The James River girls saw their soccer season come to an end in the quarterfinal round of the Region 2C tournament. River finished the season with a 10-9 record after losing to top-seeded Nelson County.
The Knights opened the tournament with a home game against Three Rivers District rival Patrick County and took a 5-2 win. Sophia Martin opened the scoring, assisted by Ayden Jennings eight minutes into the match as the storm clouds continued to build. Avery Saunders converted minutes later to stretch the lead to 2-0. Camille Gonzales made a fast break against the flow of play to close the gap for the Cougars shortly after but Jennings hit the back of the net from distance at the midpoint of the half to open the lead back up for the Knights.
After a break due to lightning Sonny Sharp scored for River to make it 4-1. Patrick got one back but Regan Childs answered for River and a 5-2 final. Kendra Zepp had eight saves for River.
That set up a region quarterfinal against top-seeded Nelson County in Lovingston and the Governors dominated, winning 8-1. Nelson led 3-0 at the half and were close to winning by slaughter rule before River scored with only seconds to spare to make it 8-1. Zepp and Childs shared the goal for the Knights, making 18 stops between them.
“We had a good season,” said River coach Bill Smith. “We played some good soccer. We missed a few we should have won, but that is the game. We have some really great kids on the team. Many will be back next season and I think we can be stronger due to the experience we gained this year.”
