Patriots cruise into district final

A big part of Albemarle’s success this season has been focusing on the details — doing all the little things right.
Facing Massaponax in the Commonwealth District semifinals, those little things led to big results as the Patriots cruised past the Panthers, 6-0.
“We finished our chances and the guys played great,” said Albemarle coach Scott Jackson. “They worked real hard in the first half, and the chances we got, we finished.”
After pouring on shot after shot in the first 13 minutes of the game, Albemarle’s Steven Bargh swept in the game’s first goal, tucking in a Ben Coffey shot that just bounced just wide.
“It’s just an outside midfielder continuing a run to the far post,” Jackson said. “It’s a run that you should make, and maybe one out five times you get lucky. Today, it happened two times in one half. It’s like a back-door cut or playing good defense in basketball, it’s just the little things you have to do, and [Bargh] was awarded for that both times.”
The flood gates opened from there the Patriots got first-half goals from Julian Lowe, Zach Tyler, Brian Natale and another from Bargh, who again cleaned up on a wide shot.
“We got a few quick goals,” Bargh said. “They were pretty much out after that.”
The only thing the Patriots did better than score was pass, as all five first-half goals were assisted.
Natale had two of the assists, including a perfectly placed throw-in that resulted in Lowe’s goal.
“We’re working the ball around,” Natale said. “It’s been real nice. Our outside midfielders kept putting crossing balls across.”
“[Massaponax] wasn’t tracking real well and we recognized that,” Bargh added.
The Panthers managed just two scoring opportunities in the first 40 minutes of play with the Patriots defense shutting down both attempts.
Desire Rusengo put in the only goal of the second half.
Massaponax goalkeeper Wayner Kazanjian put in a solid day’s work, stopping 11 shots total, nine of which came in the first half.
When it was all said and done, Albemarle outshot the Panthers 23-3. To date, the Patriots have outscored their opponents 74-7 and have yet to give up more than one goal in a game, recording 13 shutouts.
At 18-0, it appears that the Patriots’ first loss may well be their only loss. Albemarle will host Colonial Forge in the district championship game today at 6 p.m., a match primarily for bragging rights, as the Patriots wrapped up a Northwest Region berth by virtue of sweeping the district in the regular season.
“Our goals coming in were to win the regular season and to win the tournament championship and we’re closing in on that,” Jackson said. “We just have to see what we can do when we get to regionals.”
Players and coaches alike are looking forward to the ‘win or go home’ atmosphere that will come next week.
“We’ve got 10 seniors on this team,” Jackson said. “This is their last go-around and so everyone wants to play hard and play together as a team and try and go out on top.”
And when asked about the postseason, For Bargh, it’s comes back to zeroing in on the small stuff.
“It’s extra motivation,” Bargh said. “If you don’t get to that 50-50 ball, if you don’t make that tackle, you could be done.”