Broad Run continues magical season
By Carl Lukat
Briar Woods held Broad Run's powerful offense without a goal for the first 44 minutes of the Dulles District girls' soccer championship game May 22 at Freedom High School.
But after senior Kelly Smith put the Spartans on the scoreboard with her left-footed blast in the 45th minute, Broad Run turned up the pressure, scoring twice more in the second half for a 3-0 victory.
“It was hard for us to get in behind them,” Spartan coach Claire Collins said. “Defensively, they were able to prevent us from scoring. They did a good job with that. They frustrated us. But once we were able to get the first goal, I think we settled down a little bit and got a little bit of a flow.”
Smith also scored the final goal for Broad Run after junior Kelly Evans' tally pushed the advantage to 2-0.
“We didn't want to let up,” Smith said. “We want to finish this season hard. We want to be undefeated this season. We wanted to keep it together and play our game.”
The win capped off a dominant tournament run for Broad Run that saw them outscore three opponents by a combined score of 18-2. The Spartans, also the Dulles regular season champions, remained undefeated on the season at 19-0.
Broad Run has outscored opponents 96-13 this spring and have recorded 11 shutouts. A trio of juniors – Holly King (Florida), Caitlin Hunter (UNC-Wilmington) and Evans (Old Dominion) – have already committed to play Division I college soccer with more players on the Spartan roster likely to commit in the future.
“This is probably one of the strongest teams that I've worked with at Broad Run,” said Collins, in her sixth year at Broad Run. “They are very skillful. They are very talented. They play off each other very well and they just want to play.”
The Spartans earned the top seed in the Region II tournament and received a quarterfinal round bye. Broad Run will host either Fluvanna or Handley in the semifinals May 28 at 7 p.m.
Broad Run, the 2001 Group AA state champions and 2004 state runner-ups, has lost in the state quarterfinal round each of the past two years.
Carina Chavez and Smith are the lone seniors on the team.
“I want a state title really bad. I just want to go all the way once,” said Smith, in her fourth year on the varsity squad.
“I think we have a really good chance at winning it. I think we've had really good teams for the past three years. We need to muscle up and get it done,” Smith said smiling.
Briar Woods also advanced to the Region II tournament, an impressive feat for the third-year program coached by Ann Vierkorn.
The Falcons, who finished third in the regular season standings, qualified for regionals after upsetting second-seeded Loudoun County, 2-0, May 21 in the Dulles semifinals.
“If they keep their momentum going, I think they are a team that can advance on,” Collins said about Briar Woods. “Their goalkeeper [Melissa Mailley] is phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.”
The Falcons will play at Charlottesville in the Region II quarterfinals May 26 at 6 p.m.