VHSL 4A State Semi Final

VHSL June 8, 2018 - 2:00 pm
Salem High School

Results

Club1st Half2nd HalfScoreOutcome
Blacksburg011Loss
Loudoun County123Win

Recap

Blacksburg’s season came to an end with a 1-3 lose to Loudoun County.  LC jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half and added one more goal in the second to go up 3-0.  Continuing to battle Skyler Prosser scored in the 72nd minute on a corner from Meghan Shelton.

Kinsey Verbrugge recorded 14 saves compared to 6 by the LC keeper.  Blacksburg recorded 2 shots compared to 16 shots for LC.  Blacksburg had 2 corner kicks and LC had 6.

Quoted from the Roanoke Times.

Blacksburg girls lose bid for state title berth in girls

Special Thanks to The Roanoke Times

Salem – To bill the girls soccer match between Blacksburg and Loudoun County as a battle of state champions was a little misleading.  While Blacksburg was winning three state championships from 2014-16, that was in 3A . Loudoun County came to Spartan Field with two 4A championships in the past three years.

Travis Eschenmann, whose Bruins had gotten to at least the semifinals in the previous nine 3A state tournaments, knew there would be a difference even before Loudoun County ended Blacksburg’s season, 3-1, in the Class 4 semifinals on Friday.  Loudoun County will play Courtland for the state title on Saturday.

“It’s tough to take that step up,” Eschenmann said. “It’s one thing to play in our district.  That’s hard enough. For us to come in and make our way through regions, it wasn’t always pretty, but to win a road game to get here, I’m really proud.”

The tone for Friday’s game was established in the opening minutes as the Raiders’ Taylor Kibble scored off a penalty kick.  Kibble had taken the original shot, which initially was stopped by Blacksburg goalkeeper Kinsey Verbrugge. The ball came loose, however, and a second Loudoun Valley player was going for the ball when Verbrugge collided with her.  Kibble converted the penalty shot from short range and added a second goal with 17:45 left before halftime.

Going into the week, Kibble had 48 goals and no one else in The Washington Post’s statistical area had more than 26.  “I definitely didn’t think I would break a school record or have a 50-goal season,” said Kibble, a junior who orally committed to East Carolina earlier this spring. “This was definitely a surprise to me.  “I was still around 20 goals [at the time of the commitment], which was about average for me. I don’t know what happened. I just kind of flipped a switch and started playing my game the way I knew how.”

Loudoun County led 3-0 before Blake Carroll scored off a corner kick for Blacksburg with 7:52 left.  “I thought the [hot and humid] weather was a key today and we wanted to manage that with our style of play,” said Raiders coach Olivia Mackey, who subbed for Kibble on multiple occasions. “We were going to let the ball determine our tempo and not overwork ourselves in the heat.”

Eschenmann told his players after the game that they needed to look at the season as a whole and take pride in what they had accomplished.  “I think the [early] penalty kick hurt us,” Eschenmann said. “The referee said our keeper pushed their player. I’d have to take a look at that but, at the end of the day, they were better than we were today and that happens in sports.  “I thought we had a good game plan for [Kibble] but she’s a special player. As a coach, you want your team to always battle, no matter the circumstances. The team that beat us today, I think, was the best team in the tournament.”

Details

Date Time League Season
June 8, 2018 2:00 pm VHSL 2018

Venue

Salem High School
400 Spartan Dr, Salem, VA 24153

Blacksburg

12Meghan Shelton Forward
10Skyler Prosser Forward
1Kinsey Verbrugge Goalkeeper