THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 27, 1995 TAG: 9505270593
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
The Cox boys soccer team turned onto a bumpy road to the Group AAA state championships with a 3-1 loss to Lafayette in the Eastern Region title game Friday at Salem High.
The Falcons will hit the highway Tuesday to face two-time defending state champion Hylton in Woodbridge in a quarterfinal game. Had Cox won, it would have hosted Osbourn Park on Tuesday.
Hylton (18-0-2) crushed Osbourn Park in the Northwest Region final, 7-0, to earn the host site for the quarterfinals. Cox (13-3-2) lost to the Bulldogs, 4-0, in last year's state final, but walked away with a tie in the Kickoff Classic earlier this season.
This was the second-consecutive region final Cox has lost to Lafayette.
``This drastically changes my plans for Tuesday,'' Falcons coach Jim Snodgrass said. ``They played better soccer than us.''
Cox was first to score when Nathan Vrooman dribbled through two defenders and blasted a shot high into the right corner with 18:15 left in the first half. Several minutes later, Cox had a chance to add another goal, but Matt Whalen's shot hit the crossbar.
``We should have had at least two goals in the first half,'' Snodgrass said.
Instead, Lafayette (16-1) fought back and tied it with 8:20 left, when Jay Hughes passed to Paul DeRose on the right corner of the six-yard box. DeRose placed his shot left past Cox keeper Colin Kibler.
The Rams then shocked Cox with a goal with 35 seconds remaining in the half, when Andy Crapol found Hughes just inside the box for an easy shot and a 2-1 lead.
That play was damaging enough, but Lafayette really hurt the Falcons 1:20 into the second half on a corner play - with Crapol perfectly placing a corner kick to the left post, where Andy Cross kneed it past Kibler.
``They seemed to get discouraged after that one and we started to go after them,'' Cross said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI, Staff
Lafayette's Jay Hughes celebrates his goal that put Lafayette ahead
to stay in its Eastern Region soccer final against Cox Friday
night.
by CNB