THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 25, 1995 TAG: 9505250626
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Cox and Lafayette set up a rematch of last year's Eastern Region boys soccer championship with region semifinal victories Wednesday at Tallwood High.
Cox routed Menchville, 5-0, and Lafayette edged First Colonial, 1-0.
Both teams advanced to Tuesday's Group AAA state quarterfinals. The winner of Friday's 7:30 p.m. title match at Salem High will be home; the loser will travel to Northern Virginia.
Lafayette won last year's region final, 4-2, to end the Falcons' string of eight consecutive region titles. But Cox went on to finish second in the state tournament.
``They surprised us last year,'' Cox coach Jim Snodgrass said. ``We won't let that happen again this year. The revenge factor is very big.''
On Wednesday, Cox built a 3-0 halftime leader before substituting liberally in the second half.
Only 2 1/2 minutes into the game, Simon Allen took a pass from J.J. Steckroth and beat Menchville (12-7) keeper Mark Belote with a shot to the left post. Johan Berntorp blasted in a rebound of a Jamie Hart shot that Belote failed to handle 20 minutes later. With less than two minutes in the half, Matt Wilbricht took a feed from Allen and poked it right down the middle.
The Rams (15-1), on the other hand, barely made it to the final.
Rams keeper Mark Barnett started the game's lone scoring play with a punt that went about three-fourths of the way down the field. Andy Crapol controled the kick on the right sideline and rushed the goal with Patriots defender Josh Balsy on his hip.
First Colonial (13-3-2) keeper Corey Fogle came out at Crapol and the all-district player lofted a soft shot that bounced in off the left post with 18:25 left in the first half. by CNB