CHARLOTTESVILLE — Wilson Memorial's season came to an end Friday. losing just their second match of the season in falling to defending Class 3 state champion Brentsville District 5-1 in the state girls soccer semifinals at Monticello High School.
Wilson finished its year 18-2-1.
Brentsville was led by Florida State signee Peyton McGovern, who scored twice Friday in the win.
"What is so good about Peyton McGovern is she knows how to pick her moments," Wilson Memorial coach Brandon Fern said. "She'll be not an item for 10, 15 minutes, just distributing or playing some safe passes, making some good runs. But then there's that one moment when she'll see that we're out of position and she'll exploit it."
Late in the first half, with Brentsville already up a goal on a Reese Natysin shot with 10:08 on the clock, Brenstsville's coach was telling his team to just keep it on their own side of the field and get to halftime. They didn't hear him and worked the ball downfield. McGovern fired a shot from 30 years out into the back of the goal for a 2-0 lead.
That may have been a turning point in the game.
"The 1-0 didn't really affect us at all," Fern said. "Everyone's mood was so high because we've been scored on before and been able to come back from it. And we were still playing very well. I think it was the second goal where we realized, Oh man, we're going to have to put in two goals to win and so we have to generate some opportunities going forward."
It remained a two-goal lead for Brentsville for the first eight minutes of the second half before Kyla Kaczmarczyk knocked a shot off the post and into the goal for a 3-0 lead. Emma Kerns gave the Tigers a 4-0 lead before Wilson finally got on the scoreboard with a penalty kick from Asia Knight.
"Asia just buried it in the bottom left," Fern said. "We've been working on penalty kicks in case it came to that all month. We've improved quite a bit. When we got one back it felt really good."
McGovern scored again late for the final margin of victory.
Wilson lost just two matches all season, both coming to the two teams playing in Saturday's state championship, Brentsville District and Western Albemarle. The Hornets lose six seniors, but some key players do return for next season.
There was some thought that this would be a rebuilding year for Wilson soccer after reaching the state semifinals last season. If it was, the team rebuilt quickly during the year to reach the state tournament again. Now, Fern's goal is to build off of what happened this year as they prepare for next.
"I think we were pretty impressed with what we did this season because we weren't expected to go that far," Fern said. "We had to work for it everyday. There is a glimmer of hope that next year ... we've seen everybody, we've seen everything that Virginia 3A has to offer, we know what to expect. We know starting in preseason, let's start building on the things that we can and let's see if we can impress everybody again going forward."
Buffalo Gap softball
After putting up 31 runs in three postseason games this spring, Buffalo Gap's bats cooled off at the wrong time. The Bison couldn't get a hit off of Eastside's Braelyn Hall and Emma Sartin Friday during the Class 1 state softball semifinals, falling 2-0 at the Botetourt Sports Complex.
"We battled for six innings, making plays that held many runs on base for Eastside," Gap coach Holly Desper said. "Our bats fell short today and we weren’t able to run away with the win like we hoped, but I couldn’t be prouder of this team. This loss hits hard but we will battle back and return next year."
Eastside scored both of its runs in the bottom of the sixth to break open a scoreless game.
Gap's Caroline Alger pitched her own great game, going six innings and giving up just six hits and the two runs. The senior struck out seven and walked four in the loss, her final game as a Bison. Alger will play for Christopher Newport University next year.
Along with Alger, Gap loses one other senior, Bailey Talley, who is headed to Randolph-Macon to continue her softball career.
"I couldn’t be prouder of Bailey and Caroline and everything they earned this season," Desper said. "The loss of those two seniors is huge and Buffalo Gap will miss them tremendously."
Everyone else returns to a team that finished its season 18-4 with a Region 1B championship and a fourth straight trip to the state tournament.
Fort, Gap tennis
Buffalo Gap came up short in state tennis Friday as well. Alex DiGrassie lost a heartbreaker in the Class 1 state singles semifinals. Twin Springs' Addy Bays beat Gap's sensational junior 6-1, 5-7, 11-9 to move on to Saturday's championship.
Meanwhile, DiGrassie and Taylor Hassett reached the state championship in doubles, falling to Rappahannock's Laney Williams and Maggie Wonderling 6-1, 6-2 Friday at Liberty University.
Fort Defiance's Addyson Mooney lost in the Class 2 state semifinals for singles, falling to Marion's Parker White 6-2, 6-0. Mooney is a junior.
“This a whole different ball game when you get to this level," Fort Defiance coach John Edgecomb said. "Experience is key. At this level you either win or you learn.We use this experience as a building block.Not only for Addyson but also her teammates."
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—Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) atphite@newsleader.comand follow himon Instagram @hitepatrick.Subscribe to usatnewsleader.com
