By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
The Fluco girls soccer team hosted the Charlottesville Black Knights on April 20. The first half was scoreless, and it looked like the Flucos might be able to pull an upset against a team with only one loss so far this season. Unfortunately for the Flucos, the second half was a different story.
A minute and a half into the second half the Black Knights scored on a perfect execution of a set piece – a corner kick, in this instance. The corner kick was hit to the middle of the goal and was sharply headed past the goalie. It is rare to see this play executed so successfully at any level of soccer.
Only three minutes later, Charlottesville upped its lead to 2-0, scoring on a breakaway that the Fluco goalie had virtually no chance of stopping. A second breakaway goal with ten minutes left in the game ended the scoring and dropped the Flucos’ record to 3-4-1. The Fluco girls have wins this season over Liberty Christian, Harrisonburg and Goochland County.
After the game, Fluco coach Kit Hinkle noted that, “we had a couple of let downs.” They resulted in goals. Hinkle has a very young roster this season with only three seniors out of 18 on the roster. Last year she had Tina Valladares dashing all over the field creating opportunities. She is hard to replace. Hinkle cited for good play in this game, sophomores Piper LaRochelle and Anna Amato and juniors Ally Barnette and Sydney Chipperfield. She also cited senior goalie Shelby Crawford for good play in goal. The Black Knight’s goals were all mostly unstoppable. Junior Abby Ford also had some positive moments, maneuvering for a good chance late in the game. Chipperfield also had a good scoring chance in the middle of the second half that was just wide.
On April 24 and 27, the Fluco girls’ soccer team was on the road, playing at Jefferson District opponents Albemarle High and Louisa County. On May 1 and May 4 they will be at home against two more Jefferson District teams, Goochland County and Monticello High. After that, there are only three more games on the regular season schedule: May 8 at Orange County, May 11 home against Western Albemarle, and May 16 at Charlottesville.
