After some extended time off, the Meridian High School boys’ soccer team was finally back on the field Monday night, taking on the Eagles of Liberty (Bealeton). Due to threatening weather forecasted for later in the evening, the game’s start time was moved up to 6 P.M. from its normal slot of 7, and the boys – and those in the limited crowd who were able to adjust their schedules on short notice – were ready.

Meridian controlled play through the opening minutes, in a game where scoring early would be paramount as the two teams only needed to reach halftime for it to be called official in the event of thunderstorms. The Mustangs had plenty of chances to set up scoring opportunities but could not find the back of the net, until finally with fifteen minutes left in the period Henry Brown took a feed from Fletcher Saaty and punched it in. They’d strike again about ten minutes later, this time with Saaty doing the dirty work by himself as he juked a defender and Liberty’s goaltender to score on the open twine and give the home team a 2-0 lead.

The skies had grown increasingly ominous by the time the halftime whistle blew, but nevertheless, players returned to the field to begin the second set of 40 minutes. They’d get about halfway through it before lightning was spotted in the distance, and with the skies about to burst open imminently, both coaches agreed to consider the event complete.

Meridian improves to 3-1 on the season with the 2-0 victory, and will now get a couple nights off before playing a back-to-back set of additional home games against Alexandria City and Dominion on Thursday and Friday.