For the fifth time this year, Falls Church High School’s boys soccer team lost a one goal game Monday, falling to Hayfield Secondary 3-2 in overtime, while the Falls Church girls lacrosse team improved to 4-1 in league play.
For the fifth time this year, Falls Church High School’s boys soccer team lost a one goal game Monday, falling to Hayfield Secondary 3-2 in overtime,
Hayfield improved to 6-3-2 with the win, while the tough-luck Jaguars are still in search of their first victory of the season.
Hayfield held a 2-0 lead well into the second half, but Falls Church scored two late goals to force the overtime.
Both goalies were busy in the game, as the Jags and the Hawks had numerous near-misses in a contest which could have easily gone either way.
The Jaguars’ leading scorer, Jose Porteria, tallied his team’s first goal off a penalty kick, and freshman Kelvin Herrara deadlocked the game moments later after creating a Hayfield turnover.
Play was roughly even the rest of the way. The Jags missed their best chance to secure the win when a Porteria shot hit the goal, and Hayfield put home the winner three minutes into the extra stanza.
First-year varsity coach Lucas Cook said that the Hayfield game was an apt summation of his team’s season.
“They’re showing they can be competitive with a lot of teams that in the past we might not have been able to hang in there with. Hayfield’s the top team in the district right now, and we took them to the edge. We came back from two goals down and we’ve proved we can score. The next step is understanding we deserved that and being confident enough to go after it,” Cook said.
The Jaguars were 2-12 last year; about half of this year’s starters were on that team.
“We’ve gotten close so many times, but each time it’s something new jumping up and biting us,” Cook continued. “There’s plenty we can work on, but on the whole, the kids are really coming together. They’re buying into what we’re doing at practice. Now we can start fine-tuning little things instead of working on the big picture over and over again.”
When asked about his team’s leaders, Cook cited senior defenders Stephen Burke and Mauricio Sobero, as well as junior Juan Pablo Saavedra, his starting center-mid and “a potential future All-District player,” and Porteria, a sophomore “who really puts the effort in and is starting to blossom as a player.”
The team will travel to Yorktown High on May 3 and will host J.E.B. Stuart High on May 11.
The girls lacrosse team is 5-4 on the year and 4-1 in National District play after beating Mount Vernon High 11-9 on April 23.
“Our standout player on defense is our goalie, Hannah Wilkerson,” coach Sabrina Toatley told the News-Press. Wilkerson, a senior, has 121 saves, 18 ground balls and 16 interceptions so far this year.
Toatley said that the squad’s other standouts include sophomore midfielder Kayleigh Boveri, senior midfielder Sarah Cortez and junior atttack Elena Johnson.
The team will wrap up the regular season this Friday, April 30 with an away game against Washington Lee High.
The Jaguars have been runner-up in the district tournament the past two years. They’ll look to finally claim the championship when post-season play begins on May 6.
