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Tiger girls capture playoff title but fall in regions
The Brentsville District girls soccer team's 2-0 win last Thursday night in Nokesville against Kettle Run came with an added bit of significance: for the first time since Brentsville's state run, the girls didn't choke on their home field in the district tournament final after entering as a heavy favorite with a regular season title already theirs.There was just one catch: the regional wall. For the third time in three seasons, Brentsville made it into regions, once again dawning homefield advantage, and once again coming up short. The 1-0 loss on Monday to Loudoun County came in particularly heartbreaking fashion as the Raiders scored the game's lone goal in sudden death overtime.
Securing the district tournament title, at least, offered a silver lining on the Tigers' season, an achievement that escaped the team from Nokesville last season. While Brentsville (16-1-1) had veteran leadership in the form of fourth-year players Kayla Peck and Alex Flesch, underclassmen led the way offensively last Thursday. Sophomore Madison Smith took an assist from junior defensive midfielder Noel Kowalewski in the first half and rocked it to the net for a 1-0 Tiger advantage.
Kowalewski "played the far post to Madison making an inside roll," said Weddel about how the two set up the play.
Smith played off of a bounce from the ball and met the goal without much resistance.
"I just had a touch on it," she said.
Sophomore Bridget Bergquist followed up in the second have with less than 5 minutes remaining on the clock after Smith connected with her on a pass approaching the Cougars' net. Bergquist ran past one falling defender and caught the Kettle Run goal keeper diving to her own left trying to block a potential shot, leaving Bergquist with an open netter that she could tap in for the 2-0 lead.
"I think we were a lot (more) relaxed after the first goal," said Bergquist.
She explained she set up her shot by drawing the KRHS defender inside while she scooted more toward the center of the net.
"I think we also really mentally and physically prepared for this game," she said.
According to Kettle Run coach Bob Ruhland, "They kick it around and move well... You have to be able to pick up two, step and mark" against a team like Brentsville.
During the second half, Ruhland opted to move up his half bakcs to give them "free rein" to attack the ball offensively. He said that, when trailing, "You've got nothing to lose" so it made sense to give the offense an extra layer of support.
Kettle Run goal keeper Hannah Carr faced consistent pressure from the Brentsville offense as most of the game was played on the Cougars' side of the field. Carr added in a diving save with 11 seconds remaining and had some help earlier in the game from a shot-on-goal ricocheting off the top cross bar and back into the field of play. But as Ruhland mentioned, "You can't make mistakes" against Brentsville.
However, for a second-year school like Kettle Run (7-7-3 overall) to even finish second place in both the regular season and post-season tournament while securing a berth to regions in the process is a good sign of things to come for the program, said Ruhland.
"Over time, it should work," he said. "We starting to put the pieces together." Cool cats
After the game Thursday, the Tigers learned that freshman Allie Bunner received the all-district Player of the Year award and Weddel won Coach of the Year honors for his third straight year. Bunner netted 12 goals for the Tigers during the year. Weddel guided the girls to his their third-straight undefeated regular season since he took over from Julie O'Neill, the current girls lacrosse coach, in 2008. His previous awards came when Brentsville competed in the Northwestern District.
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