After a rainy end to the week, the Tigers traveled across the mountain to Harrisonburg as defending champions for Eastern Mennonite’s JV soccer tournament. Led by captains Harris Moye, Witt Moye and Bronson Kieltyka they were anxious to maintain their hold on this trophy. In two displays of sustained effort by the entire squad the Tigers managed to retain their position as champions. There were numerous impressive performances, but probably the defense deserves the most credit because the defenders conceded only one goal while getting used to playing with several different combinations of teammates. Ryan Gingras did a great job as holding midfielder and outside fullback; David Sloan, Liam Hedge, Sean Brown and Campbell Hallett all took turns in the center of the defense; and Zach Merritt, Matt LaVigne, and Josh Hilliary were effective on the corners of the defense.
The fields were a bit heavy, and gray skies threatened all afternoon, but the rain held off and the Tigers enjoyed their first contests against Liberty Christian and Eastern Mennonite, both teams will reappear on our schedule later in the season. In the first game the Tigers dominated time of possession and were able to experiment with a different look in the second half. Scoring came through Hawk Swearingen and Nolan Day (off a corner kick) in the first half, and Hawk and Will Peak (assist, Swearingen) in the second.
Unhappily Hawk was injured early in the second contest and had to sit most of the championship game out. The host Flames were quick opponents and challenged vigorously for the ball, and the game was pretty even for much of the first half. The Tigers went ahead after eleven minutes when Bronson Kieltyka dribbled left to right across the penalty box, penetrated deep to the endline and crossed the ball smartly for Witt Moye’s first goal of the afternoon. About six minutes later the Flames scored on a breakaway through the middle. Witt scored his second goal of the afternoon when the Flames’ netminder could not manage to tip a corner kick over the bar. Immediately after the interval Witt won a ball from a throw-in, broke through from the right and struck a fine rising shot to the far post. He completed his tally when he connected with a Woody Scruggs feed just a few minutes later.
Goalkeeper Petey DuBose, who kept a clean sheet for the second half and Bronson Kieltyka won places on the All-Tournament team, and the MVP was Witt Moye.
