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Courtland's Kara Blosser (left) and Riverbend's Meredyth Frye collide during yesterday's game at Radford University.
Bailey Wilcox celebrates with teammate Casey Ridings (10) after Wilcox scored her second goal against Courtland yesterday in the Group AA girls soccer championship game. Riverbend defeated Courtland, 2-0, to claim the school's first-ever team state championship. |
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BLOG: Photographer blogs from the game.
RELATED: Courtland knows brighter days are ahead
RADFORD--After the Riverbend girls soccer players finished breakfast yesterday morning, they boarded a school bus for the short ride from their hotel to the Group AA state title game.
"I'm not gonna lie," Bears coach Becca Berry said, "I was nervous."
And Berry worried that her players would be tense, too, because the pressure and the expectations seemed to follow her team more than they followed Courtland.
After all, Riverbend had already defeated its district rival four times this season. Riverbend was undefeated. Riverbend is headed to Group AAA next year.
But on the bus, the Bears quickly put their coach at ease. They were laughing. They were singing along as a local radio station boomed.
"When we're all stressed out and tense, we play awful," senior Bailey Wilcox said. "But we felt good this morning."
That comfort level did not subside.
The Bears, remarkably consistent all season, capped a perfect year with a 2-0 victory against the Cougars, giving their school its first-ever team state championship.
At the final whistle, the players swarmed near midfield.
Senior midfielder Becky Lyons started to lug the Gatorade cooler toward the hullabaloo, hoping to drench her coach. But that was taking too long and there was a celebration to join, so she put it down and sprinted toward the mass.
Later, Berry huddled with her players, tears welling in her eyes, and thanked them for everything.
"I'm used to crying at the end of a season because of a loss," she said. "It's a lot nicer crying because of this."
The Bears then accepted their medals and their shiny championship trophy, and took turns planting kisses on its side. They huddled for a team picture, and seven cameras sat at the feet of Riverbend athletic director Dave Lancaster, who dutifully froze the moment in time with each one.
To hear the players tell it, the first moments of their magical run came exactly one year ago, a few hours after perhaps the most difficult moment of their high school careers.
Last season, Riverbend lost in the state semifinals to Charlottesville, 3-2. The Bears stayed in Radford that night, and many of the underclassmen gathered in a dorm room and looked ahead to the following year.
"We didn't talk about losing that game, because no one wanted to," senior goalkeeper Kelsey Dowling said. "We were just like, 'Next year, we're gonna take it.'"
And perhaps the Courtland underclassmen will have a similar conversation sometime soon. They will return a pair of dynamic scoring threats in Lauren McCoy and Kara Blosser. They will not be a part of Riverbend's district, as the Bears move to Group AAA.
Riverbend was all that kept the Cougars from a historic season. Aside from its five losses to Riverbend, Courtland went 19-0-1.
"I just can't imagine the amount of frustration the girls have had to be so close each time," said Courtland coach Dennis Berry, whose team reached the state title game in 2005.
On Friday, the Cougars played 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime before escaping with a penalty-kick victory over Hidden Valley. But Berry said his players were not overly fatigued yesterday.
In the 14th minute, Riverbend's Carly Sullivan fired a shot that ricocheted off the left post and rolled back to her. She settled the ball and rolled a pass to Wilcox, who converted the chance from the right side.
"That kind of got our confidence going," Wilcox said, "because we knew we could score."
With 15 minutes remaining in regulation, Casey Ridings crossed a pass from the left side to Wilcox. The striker could not beat Courtland goalkeeper Krystal Garrison to the ball by running, so she slid and popped a shot into the net on one touch.
Courtland reorganized in the final minutes, moving Stacy Fletcher from defense to more of an attacking position. The switch sparked a couple of chances, but nothing that progressed beyond that.
Afterward, several Cougars used their jerseys to wipe tears from their cheeks as they walked toward the bench.
At the other end, the celebration was just beginning.
Adam Himmelsbach: 540/374-5442
