Patriots knock off Warriors to advance to Semi's

By Michael “Moe” Murphy
Special to LoudounPrepSports.com

Sterling (May 27, 2008) – The Park View High School boys soccer team kept its dream alive Monday with a 2-1 victory over a stubborn Western Albemarle team in the Region II quarterfinals..

The win moves the Patriots into the Region II semifinals against Handley in Winchester on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

After both teams battled Monday for 39 minutes to a scoreless tie, Patriot freshman Jose Herrera put the Patriots ahead 1-0 with a corner kick.

“It just got real crowded and chaotic down around the goal on their [Park View’s] first score,” Western Albemarle head coach Paul Rittenhouse said.

The Patriots got their second goal, which at the time looked like an insurance goal, when Patriot defender Pedro Mendoza blasted a shot twenty yards inside the midfield line to the upper left corner of the goal at 23:41 in the second half. The goal turned out to be the game winner.

Western Albemarle pulled within one goal of Park View at 9:51 when Walt Barber blasted in a free kick from just outside the box. Barber hit the top left corner over outstretched hands of Park View keeper Omar Gonzales.

“Our guys really pushed the last 10 minutes of the game,” Rittenhouse said. “We are young; I wish our team would have pushed the whole game like we did in the last 10 minutes.”

The Patriots played short-handed after Kevin Santos was hit with a yellow and soft red card late in the game.

The Warriors pushed hard moving their keeper Charles Stump to midfield and maintaining possession for the last two minutes of the game. The Park View defense thwarted off several Warrior attempts to preserve the victory.

“It was a good game for the team, the students and the school,” Patriots head coach Arturo Jimenez said. “We tried to slow them and keep possession. The last 15 minutes of the game the were able to take us out of our game and push hard.”

The Patriots will travel to Winchester to play the Handley Judges on Wednesday at 4:30. The Judges are 16-1-2 with their only loss coming to Brentsville in the Northwestern District Tournament championship game. Handley also had a pair of ties with Sherando and Millbrook in the regular season.

“We have to still play our game,” Jimenez said. “I don’t know too much about Handley, but I am going home now to do my homework.”

A win Wednesday would clinch a state playoff berth for Park View.