Forest girls advance in soccer tournament with a lot of help from DeWitt

FOREST — Jefferson Forest junior Cameron DeWitt showed in Tuesday’s Region III girls soccer quarterfinal against Robert E. Lee that she can finish an assist and dish one out.
She scored the first goal, off a cross deep into the box from Jennifer Steele, and set up the second, netted by freshman Chelsea Hayes two minutes before halftime, and Forest held on for a 2-1 home victory.
The Cavaliers (16-2-1) will meet the winner of Tuesday’s quarterfinal game between Harrisonburg and Northside in Thursday’s Region III semifinal at Turner Ashby, starting at 5:30 p.m.
“We’re one win away from getting to states,” JF coach Stan Golon said. “That’s the ultimate goal.”
DeWitt’s tally, 16 minutes in, was far from a thing of beauty.
“Steele sent a perfect cross from the right side and their defender and goalkeeper got jumbled up and I just got enough of a foot on it to get it in the goal,” DeWitt said.
By contrast, Hayes’ was a work of art.
DeWitt sent her a through pass in the left side of the box, where she trapped it, turned and fired a shot past Lee freshman keeper Kaitlyn Campbell.
“That was a nice finish,” Golon said. “Cameron got her the ball right to her feet and Chelsea was able to separate herself from the defender and go back post.”
“That was really pretty on her part,” DeWitt added, “a quick turn and quick shot.”
It boosted Forest’s lead to 2-0 going into the second half, but as DeWitt pointed out, that is the most dangerous lead in soccer.
Lee (14-4) cut it to 2-1 just 13 minutes after halftime when Kathleen Thompson lofted a shot from 30 yards out over Cavaliers keeper Dorothy Nugent, who was drawn out of position, into the back of the net.
“They made it interesting,” Golon said.
“Once they got the goal, we had to work even harder to keep the lead,” DeWitt added.
The Cavaliers played a bit more conservatively.
“We threw a fourth back in, but we still gave them too much space,” Golon said.
But they still managed to generate some quality scoring chances.
With 16 minutes remaining in regulation, Brigid Benincasa took a pass from Danielle Brittagan and fed Hayes in the left of the box. Her shot on the run glanced off the left post out of bounds. Moments later, senior defender Jaime White launched a long ball up to DeWitt who sent a cross just out of the reach of Hayes on the right.
Robert E. Lee coach Andrew Greene would be interested to see Forest face Harrisonburg.
“They’re a better possession team than we are,” he said. “They’re definitely one of the best teams we’ve faced this year. They’ll do well against Harrisonburg, another possession-type team.”