No. 5 VES eliminates No. 4 LCA; Holy Cross advances

Virginia Episcopal School coach Bob Leake voted for Liberty Christian Academy goalkeeper Chris Lawson in the all-Virginia Independent Conference boys soccer selections.

But Leake and the fifth-seeded Bishops figured out a way to beat Lawson and the fourth-seeded Bulldogs in Tuesday’s VIC tournament quarterfinal at LCA.

“That kid is good in the air,” Leake said. “We needed to get him on the ground. All of our goals were low and to the corners.”

VES scored three first-half goals off of corner kicks, its first three of the season set up that way, and Lawson’s jersey was mud-covered after the Bishops ended LCA’s season with a 3-1 victory, played in a steady drizzle.

“I love the rainy conditions and I think my kids do, too,” said Leake of the Bishops, who have played three of their past four games in the rain.

Their lone loss during that stretch was Saturday’s 2-1 overtime defeat against No. 1-seeded Blue Ridge. VES travels to Blue Ridge, a 5-2 winner over Carlisle in another first-round game, for a re-match in Thursday’s semifinal at 4 p.m.

On Tuesday, the Bishops (11-5-1) won for the first time in five tries against the Bulldogs (9-7-3). The two teams tied 1-1 in their previous meeting, also at LCA.

“I thought we were evenly matched,” Leake said. “At the beginning of the game, we had a little more energy.”

After shifting formations, VES came out on attack to start the contest and maintained posses-sion for most of the first half.

“When we tied them, we were in a 3-5-2,” Leake said, using three defenders, five midfielders and two forwards. “This time, we wanted more pressure up front so we switched to a 3-4-3. Everybody wanted to get forward.”

Michael Burton, a junior striker who had missed most of the season due to injury, started up front and netted two spectacular goals in a span of two minutes off corner-kick assists.

On the first, Will Manning sent a short pass on the left endline that deflected off a teammate to Burton in the left side of the box. He controlled the ball, pivoted and fired a left-footed shot into the upper-left corner of the net.

Ninety seconds later, Tylden Mosby sent a low, line-drive cross from the right corner toward Burton, who timed his run through the middle of the box perfectly, re-directing the pass with a diving header past a diving Lawson inside the left post.

Finally, less than three minutes before halftime, Manning sent a long cross from the left corner that Burton nearly netted for a first-half hat trick. He headed it over Lawson, who managed to parry it off the crossbar. But LCA’s defense couldn’t clear the ball and Felix Hasenmaier finished it into the right side of the cage.

“We didn’t challenge the ball like we should have at the beginning of the game,” Bulldogs coach Steve Moon said. “We played a little tentative.

“VES did play a great game,” he added. “They passed well, they were aggressive, they were physical, they worked the ball well. They just outplayed us today. They beat us to the ball in the first half.”

LCA’s leading scorer Seth Dorman tallied his 26th goal of the season on a penalty kick three and a half minutes into the second half. He was awarded the kick, which he finished past VES goal-keeper Payne McIntosh into the lower right corner, after McIntosh came out to near the top of the box to challenge a Bulldog on a breakaway and was called for the foul.

The Bishops’ defense contained Dorman for much of the game.

“Blake Hill did a nice job in the middle (and) Jared Stell did a nice job of man-marking Seth Dorman,” Leake said.

Holy Cross 2, North Cross 0

Cedric Anderson finished an assist from Kenny Sterne for a 1-0 lead midway through the first half before Joe Bruzek tied added an insurance goal on a second-half penalty kick in the Gael’s VIC quarterfinal win over visiting North Cross.

Anderson’s 23rd tally moved him into Holy Cross’s season scoring lead before Bruzek’s score re-tied the competition.

“It was a very nice goal,” Holy Cross coach Randy Turille said of Anderson’s score, which started from the defensive end. “The ball came into Kenny from the flank and Cedric was making a run through the box. Kenny one-timed it to Cedric and Cedric one-timed it into the side of the net as the keeper came out to get it.”

Holy Cross was issued a penalty kick when Anderson was taken out by North Cross’s sweeper as he dribbled through the box.

Bruzek’s kick hit the inside of the left post before caroming in.

“The keeper guessed right, but it still beat him,” Turille said. “He hit it with enough pace that … he didn’t have a chance. It was a great goal.”

Nolan Mann made a couple of key second-half saves to preserve the shutout.

The Gaels will play at second-seeded Eastern Mennonite, which edged No. 7 Covenant 2-0 in overtime in another quarterfinal, in Thursday’s semifinal at 4 p.m.

Eastern Mennonite beat Holy Cross 7-3 in the season’s second game, but the Gaels (18-4-1) have come a long way since then.