ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606030075
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: CHAD WILLIS STAFF WRITER
THE TERRIERS AVENGE last season's loss to Blacksburg by winning 1-0 in the semifinals.
The Group AA boys' soccer semifinal matchup Friday between William Byrd and Blacksburg was another epic installment in what has become an annual battle for the right to advance to the state finals.
William Byrd midfielder Ryan Grecus scored on a header in the 50th minute, giving the Terriers a 1-0 victory over the defending state champs at Bill Brown Stadium.
William Byrd advances to face the winner of the other semifinal match between York and Western Albemarle. The championship is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The game-winning goal came off a throw-in from deep in the William Byrd attack zone. Terriers forward Michael Berry controlled the toss and flicked a pass across the goal mouth to the opportunistic Grecus, who put the ball just beyond the reach of Blacksburg goalie Ben Pinkerton.
``Greg Johnson started it off with a long throw and I saw Mike kind of flip the ball my way,'' Grecus said. "I was able to get my head on it and put it just over the goalie.''
Grecus' score took advantage of one of the rare occasions the Terriers were able to muster a quality scoring chance. William Byrd was outshot 21-13, but managed to weather the Blacksburg attack on the performance of keeper Michael Creasey.
"He played a heck of a game tonight,'' said William Byrd coach Jeff Highfill. "He's been doing it all year for us. That's why he's on the all-region team.''
Creasey recorded 13 saves, including a clutch deflection of a shot in the upper left-hand corner by B.J. Lafon in the game's final minute.
"I had some tough saves tonight because they had a lot of occasions where they were coming at me with numbers up,'' Creasey said. "I just got a lot of support from the defense in front of me.''
Friday's game was the fifth time the two teams have met in the Group AA tournament dating to 1990, with Blacksburg holding a 3-2 lead. Both Indians losses came in the semifinal round.
With the victory, William Byrd avenged last season's 3-1 semifinal setback to Blacksburg.
"This one feels really good because we've been here so many times only to lose to Blacksburg,'' Highfill said. "This time we caught the break with the header, but in games like this, sometimes that's all you need.''
The loss ended Blacksburg's bid to become the first team to repeat as Group AA champions since Park View-Sterling turned the trick in '91 and '92. Ironically, Park View-Sterling's championship victories were over William Byrd ('91) and Blacksburg ('92).
"We knew we were going to face a really tough team tonight,'' said Indians coach Shelley Blumenthal. "We had a lot of good chances tonight...we just couldn't take advantage of any of them.
"We had a lot of shots from in close in the first half, but a lot of them weren't good chances. We had more chances, even though we had less shots in the second half.''
The Indians defense contained Berry the entire match, allowing the Terriers' top scorer just one shot. In the end, it was the setup, and not the finish, by Berry that was the difference.
"They had [Dustin Bond] on me all night,'' Berry said. "Coach just told me to keep pressing up and something would happen.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. William Byrd's Ryan Grecus (6) heads theby CNBball in for the winning score as Blacksburg's Josh Matherly looks on
during their Group AA semifinal game in Blacksburg on Friday. The
Terriers won 1-0. color.