Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 2, 1995 TAG: 9506020119
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Tied with William Byrd in a Group AA boys' soccer semifinal, the Indians kept attacking and attacking. Finally, all those shots took their toll on the Terriers, and Blacksburg scored twice in the last 15 minutes en route to a 3-1 victory.
The victory moves the Indians (18-0-1) into the state final for the fifth time in the seven years there has been a Group AA tournament. They will play for their third state title Wednesday at the winner of today's match between Western Albermarle and Courtland.
The loss ended the sixth consecutive trip to state play for William Byrd (15-3-1).
After 25 minutes of attacking, the Indians broke the 1-1 tie on their eighth shot of the half. Forward Kurt Williams knocked in a bouncing ball in front of the net to give Blacksburg a 2-1 lead.
``I crossed the ball and it bounced off a defender,'' said Williams, a senior. ``Gwaz [forward John Gwazdauskas] got a toe pass. I continued running in and it was there.''
The Terriers immediately responded and took their first shot of the half. But after they pressed the action for about a minute, Blacksburg took control again.
And with six minutes remaining, Indians midfielder Mark Decker cliched the victory with a blast from about 20 yards that went into the left corner of the net.
``We just applied the pressure,'' said Decker, who scored two goals in the match, giving him four in the state tournament. ``And we played defense all over the field.''
The Indians' domination of the last 40 minutes contrasted with the even play of the first half. Each team had good scoring opportunities, and each capitalized in the 10th minute.
Decker gave Blacksburg a 1-0 lead when he scored after a throw-in by Brian Shrader bounced off a William Byrd defender.
But the Terriers got the equalizer in less than a minute as Joe Cockfield scored on a pass from Michael Berry.
``In the second half, they kept on us and that wore us down,'' said Jeff Highfill, William Byrd's coach. ``We were in our end more so than I wanted. There's a tendency to do that when the other team puts the pressure on. We had too many guys coming back. When we punched the ball to midfield, there was no one at midfield to get it.''
In the second half, Blacksburg outshot the Terriers 12-2 after the teams' shots were almost even in the first half (8-7 in favor of Blacksburg). And it was the Indians who scored the deciding goals.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
by CNB