THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610300211
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 47 lines
Jay Habel came down on the fast break with one defender to his side, a goalkeeper to beat and no teammate to pass the ball to. No problem.
The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy junior forward maneuvered his way around the defender and then fired past Walsingham's goalie for a first-half score.
``When he gets the ball around the box, he will score a lot,'' Nansemond-Suffolk soccer coach Tom Gill said. ``When he's on his game, there's not a lot of people who can mark him.''
If only that had been the standard situation for the Saints this year.
Habel scored 17 goals this season, but the Saints have gotten little production from other sources as N-SA struggled to a seventh-place finish, going 2-5 in the TCIS and 7-9-1 overall.
The Saints went on to defeat Walsingham 2-0 that afternoon, but this season is no repeat of 1995, when Nansemond-Suffolk advanced to the TCIS tournament final.
N-SA opened the season 4-2 but dropped six of the next nine games going into the Walsingham game.
``We got a couple of wins, and we settled back and thought we were better than we were,'' Gill said.
A couple of tough one-goal defeats and a lack of cohesiveness have been factors, said Gill. Habel believes he has a more direct answer to the Saints woes - the loss of first-team all-TCIS performer Gabe Valencia. Valencia is a freshman starter on nationally ranked William & Mary.
``On last year's team, you had Gabe to control the middle and distribute the ball,'' said Habel, who was named all-TCIS second team a year ago. ``It made a whole lot of difference to have someone beating a few men and then shoot it or pass it.''
Habel has done his best to make up for Valencia's production but does not have a teammate who attracts the attention that Valencia did. ``It helped to have Gabe because he drew the top defenders,'' Habel said.
The Saints followed the Walsingham victory by getting shut out 2-0 against Norfolk Collegiate Thursday. The two teams met again Tuesday in the first round of the playoffs - a time of season in which Gill said the regular season performances are insignificant.
``The tournament is going to be a complete war,'' Gill said.
But if the Saints cannot get Habel down near the box, it may be a short one for N-SA. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Jay Habel by CNB