ALL-CVA BOYS SOCCER COACH OF THE YEAR: Patrick Dieter, Fluvanna County

Fluvanna County may not have won the Jefferson District title, but last season was nonetheless a banner year for the boys soccer team.

The Flucos accumulated a litany of firsts including their first district tournament win, a win over Charlottesville High School and seven shutouts.

In doing so, Fluvanna coach Patrick Dieter piloted his team to a 14-4 overall record and a second-place finish in regular-season district play, and is The Daily Progress’ choice for the All-Central Virginia boys soccer coach of the year.

The Flucos, who had never finished higher than fifth in the district, enjoyed the most success in program history.

“Last year, the last few games of the season didn’t matter, but this year, every game meant something — every game was special,” Dieter said. “I’m excited for the entire Fluvanna soccer [community]. It was a big deal to a lot of people.”

And nothing was a bigger deal than the team’s win over Orange County, which Dieter said was the turning point of the season. The Hornets, who won the district title, were unbeaten at the time.

“We got beat pretty good the first time we played them,” Dieter said. “The second time the game was moved to a Friday night, and we had the biggest soccer crowd I’ve ever seen here. We were heavily the underdog, but the kids just played a perfect game. The high school kids rushed the field [after the win] — it was a nice moment. That brought us together as a team, and after that we won a bunch of games.”

But Dieter, who was named the coach of the year in the Jefferson District, knows it wouldn’t have been possible without his four senior leaders — Zach Reilly, Ryan Braford, Chad Dynski and Justin Clements. Reilly and Dynski both earned first-team all-district honors.

“Before, I’d never had any senior leadership, and this year all four contributed,” Dieter said. “They were good players who turned into great players.”

Dieter has been the head varsity coach for five years, and has been coaching in Fluvanna for seven years total. But this season will always be a special memory.

“When I started, we went 2-14 — we never beat anyone in the district and we were the joke of our school and [the soccer community],” Dieter said. “We didn’t have many people try out, so we kept everybody. My first year on varsity we went 6-10, and every year since, we’ve steadily gotten better. Now the interest is finally there and I think people take us seriously, especially after last year.

“We’ve come such a long way from when I started. This year, it all came together at the right time.”

Dieter pondered retiring from coaching this year, but realized the team returns 11 seniors next season and

decided he couldn’t walk away quite yet. In fact, he, along with his team, can’t wait to get back on the field.

“We really accomplished all our goals we had last year. It will be hard to replace the seniors we lost, but with the guys I have coming back, I think we have a good shot of winning the district,” Dieter said. “We have guys that know how to win now.”

As 11th graders, these guys stood up and helped this team win, and I’m expecting great things from them next year. The way we lost, it was hard to swallow — we just want to get back into it.”