Aldie, Va. — Since Lightridge High School opened in 2020, the boys soccer team has steadily improved every season. However, a championship has eluded the Lightning over their first five seasons. Lightridge got a chance to change that when they hosted Stone Bridge High School in the Potomac District championship on May 27 in Aldie. The nerves didn’t hurt Lightridge as the Lightning scored four goals in the first half to cruise to a 4-2 victory and claim their first district title in program history.
“Knowing where we were in year one during the COVID year, then year two when I took over the program, this really feels full circle,” Lightridge head coach David Cesnik said. “We know what it feels like to be down on our luck and really struggling to get wins, and now we’re 15 wins in, we’re hosting a region semifinal. This really was a magical game for us, and I’m very proud of this team.”
Lightridge senior forward Ahmad Sajad scored less than 10 minutes into the game to give the Lightning the lead. Junior defender Brayden Moyssiadis scored on a penalty kick to extend the lead to 2-0. Less than two minutes later, Lightridge sophomore midfielder Dylan Conti scored a pair of goals—the second coming less than three minutes after the first—as the Lightning jumped out to a commanding 4-0 lead.
“[The lead] gave us a lot of momentum, and we were really feeling it,” Conti said. “We started off a little slow, but I got two quick ones, and we were rolling from there. I was just in the flow state, and nothing was going through my mind. It’s just instinct.”
The Lightning started the game off on the front foot. Lightridge got multiple good chances, but not enough to get a shot off towards the direction of Stone Bridge sophomore goalkeeper Lambert Venema. However, a good through ball by senior defender Kaden Singh found Sajad racing past the Bulldogs’ defense. Sajad slid the ball into the back of the net to give Lightridge an early 1-0 lead.
Stone Bridge turned their attack on after the opening goal. The Bulldogs got chances and shots from senior defender Chris Smith and senior midfielder Ryan Seetaram, but they found the gloves of Lightridge senior goalkeeper Jimmy Brown.
The momentum swung back to Lightridge as a yellow card on Stone Bridge in the penalty box led to the Lightning receiving a penalty kick. Moyssiadis stepped up to the penalty spot and rocketed the ball into the back of the net to give Lightridge a 2-0 lead.
The Lightning attack kept on pressuring the Stone Bridge defense. That pressure led to cracks as a foul on the Bulldogs led to Conti stepping up with a free kick from 24 yards out. Less than two minutes from Lightridge’s last goal, the Lightning were back on the scoreboard as Conti floated the ball into the top left corner of the goal to increase the Lightning’s lead to 3-0.
“Our midfielders have stepped up so well this year,” Cesnik said. “Our sophomore class has really helped this team so much. It’s a very talented group. It’s something that we expected a lot of them, and each day it feels like a different one of them is stepping up, and today it was Dylan [Conti]’s day.”
Stone Bridge responded with their best chance on goal. A cross lofted into the box and bounced around towards the goal, but Moyssiadis was there to clear the ball away. Lightridge quickly attacked on the other side of the field. Conti spun past the defense and scored in the bottom right corner to give the Lightning a 4-0 lead with 14 minutes left in the first half.
“Coming out to a four-goal lead at the start really shows everything that they can do to step on the field and play with intensity,” Cesnik said. “Our message at halftime was that we don’t want to let up. So for us to battle for 20-25 minutes until they snuck one in, we really put ourselves in a chance to see out the lead. We were unlucky not to get some more in the second half.”
The Bulldogs got more shots on goal before halftime, but Brown made saves to keep Stone Bridge scoreless going into the break.
Coming out of halftime, both teams fell into more defensive positioning. The squads created turnovers and cleared the ball out of their own final third. Shots found the hands of both goalkeepers to keep the game at 4-0.
“It was a great team performance,” Moyssiadis said. “First trophy in school history, it just feels amazing. We played great. We put four away early, so it made it so we could almost coast through the rest of the game.”
Stone Bridge kept on attacking the Lightridge defense as the legs for both teams got heavier and heavier. A cross into the box bounced off the head of a Lightridge defender before Stone Bridge junior midfielder Elmahdi Ahmed headed the ball into the back of the goal as the Bulldogs decreased the deficit to 4-1 with just under seven minutes remaining in the game.
In extra time, Stone Bridge senior forward Mustafa Elwasila scored to decrease the Lightning’s lead to 4-2, but the goal came a little too late as the final whistle blew to give Lightridge their first district title in program history.
With the win, Lightridge (15-2-1) earns a first round bye in the region tournament and will play the winner of Independence vs Harrisonburg in a VHSL Region 5D semifinal on June 3 in Aldie. Stone Bridge (10-6-2) travels to Riverside on May 29 for a VHSL Region 5D quarterfinal showdown.
“They know that they’ve worked hard for 18 games so far this season on top of their club schedule,” Cesnik said. “We’ve got a week to rest. We’ve got a week to prepare. We’re so excited, and we’re ready to keep this going and say that we’re not done yet.”