Photo by Brian Hoffman
The James River soccer teams will wrap up the regular season this week. Tonight both the boys and girls play Carroll County with the boys in Springwood while the girls are off to Hillsville.
There is no Three Rivers District tournament for soccer so, after this week, the Region 2C tournament will be the next action for 3RD teams. Region rankings will be set after final regular season games are played this week.
The James River boys are 1-14-1 after dropping their last two games, both by 3-0 scores to Martinsville and Patrick County. The Knights also have a game at Floyd County Friday.
The girls won three games last week to improve to 9-7 overall and 9-2 in the district. Those three wins most likely clinched a Region home opener for the Knights against an opponent to be determined.
The girls won back-to-back shutouts over Martinsville last week. Last Tuesday in Martinsville they won 8-0 as Avery Saunders and Jordyn Simmons scored two goals each and Sophia Martin, Lilly Falls, Vivian Vernon and Rhaya Kitt, taking a break out of the goal, all scored for the Knights.
A night later the Bulldogs returned the trip and River won by a shutout again, 7-0 in Springwood. This was Senior Night for the Knights and everyone wanted to get the game in despite an ominous weather forecast.
The match started as it had the night before with the Knights dominating. Goals from Ayden Jennings, Regan Childs, Sonny Sharp, Saunders, Payten White and two from Sophia Martin took the game into the break with a 7-0 lead.
The weather was holding, but just barely, as seniors Chloe Helmondollar, Bri Mitchell, Hayley Rader, Regan Childs, and Lilly Falls were recognized with a walk out and flowers. The game was called after the opening whistle of the second half on account of the weather as the players and families quickly retreated to the school for a senior reception.
On Friday in Stuart the Knights made it a clean sweep for the week with a 6-2 win over Patrick County. Sharp, Simmons and Saunders scored first-half goals to give River a 3-1 lead. Patrick cut the lead to 3-2 early in the second half but Saunders and Simmons answered to make it 5-2 and Saunders completed her three goal “hat trick” to put it away. Kendra Zepp had six saves for the Knights
