Photo by Bryant Altizer
The James River girls soccer team will celebrate their seniors tonight, Wednesday, when they host Patrick County in a Three Rivers District match. River is 4-1-1 in the district after tying Radford last Wednesday, 2-2, on the road.
The girls were scheduled to play Radford again on Monday of this week, at home, but that game was postponed by rain and rescheduled for May 26. That should be a good one if last week’s game at Radford is any indication.
“This is always a tough match and it would prove equal to the expectation,” said River coach Bill Smith.
The game started off fast and furious, with James River having more of the ball and better chances. However, Radford’s Kendall Carpenter scored a beautiful high dropping goal at the midpoint of the half to put the Bobcats ahead, 1-0.
Five minutes later River’s Rhaya Kitt finished off an assist from Sophia Martin to level the score. Senior Lauren Owens had another high-quality long shot for the home team to take back the lead with 13 minutes on the clock but Martin scored, this time assisted by Kitt, to tie the game and it was 2-2 at the half.
The second half was more end-to-end play with lots of energy and many chances on both sides, but no goals. Even after two overtime periods the score remained tied at 2-2 and that’s how it ended. Kylee Aaron had 16 saves for the Knights.
The Knights are now 7-4-1 overall. After tonight’s game with Patrick they’ll head to Carroll County for a district game this Friday night.
