Ashburn, Va. — It was an uphill battle for the Riverside High School boys soccer team, but every chance they got, they made the most of it.
Entering the Potomac District tournament as the No. 3 seed, the Rams defeated No. 6 Woodgrove, 2-1, in overtime then upset No. 2 Potomac Falls, 4-3, in their district semifinal before knocking off No. 4 Stone Bridge, 4-2, in PKs in the district championship.
In the VHSL Region 5D tournament, the Rams dispatched Brooke Point, 8-1, before knocking off North Stafford, 3-2, in overtime, setting up a match up with Potomac District No. 1 Briar Woods in the region championship. Like they had done twice in the regular season, the Falcons trumped the Rams, as Riverside took the No. 8 seed into the state tournament.
In the VHSL Class 5 State tournament, Riverside defeated Region 5C champion Clover Hill, 3-2, then got to host the Region 5B runner up Kecoughtan in Leesburg for the state semifinal, cruising past the Warriors, 6-2, and earning the Rams their second ever trip to the state championship game.
Then, the Rams took the short trip across Loudoun to Briar Woods, where they were set to play Region 5A runner up Frank W. Cox in the VHSL Class 5 State championship.
Despite a historic run to the state final, Riverside’s magic ran out just before they could capture their second piece of state hardware, falling to the Falcons, 2-0, on June 11 in Ashburn.
“It was tough and really surreal. We just put a good string together,” Riverside head coach Kiernan Harris said. “We had to play the way we’ve been playing, but when we needed to play today, we just didn’t have it in us.”
[adrotate banner=”29″]Riverside took a blow early when Cox senior midfielder Robbie Morgan scored on a corner from sophomore midfielder Dax Booth in the 6’.
But the Rams would make their runs.
Midway through the first half, Riverside junior Matthew Thissell crushed a shot off the crossbar that would have served as the equalizer.
Then in the first three minutes of the second half, Riverside junior midfielder Nickolas Apostolu made a run but the Cox keeper held his ground and kept the Rams off the board.
A minute and a half later, junior midfielder Carlos Lozano hit a rocket which was deflected by the Cox keeper and kicked out.
We will graduate 5 seniors, so hopefully our 15 juniors will take the experience from this year and know that we can get back here next year.
—Riverside head coach Kiernan Harris
Just when it felt like the Rams would break through, the Falcons turned the field around as Morgan got open in front of the net and connected on a pass from senior midfielder CJ Vakos to put Cox up 2-0 in the 55’.
But even that didn’t stop the Rams from giving it their all.
In the 59’, Riverside junior midfielder Alexander Balkey missed on a chance, just right of the net, then Thissell made a crafty pass in front of the net, but fellow junior midfielder Ried Forst’s shot was deflected by a wall of Falcons’ defenders as Cox kept its clean sheet intact.
“Every chance we had went in for us yesterday. Kecoughtan was good but Cox was better. They had all the right people in the right spots,” Harris said. “We hit the post once, we missed wide twice; if we were on like we were yesterday, those would have gone in, but today, those chances just didn’t go in for us.”
In the end, the Rams went from Potomac District No. 3 seed to the VHSL Class 5 State runner up and will look to finish the job next season when they return all but five seniors from their 2022 roster.
“We will graduate 5 seniors, so hopefully our 15 juniors will take the experience from this year and know that we can get back here next year,” Harris said. “This year, I thought we had a shot to get here, but I was still a little surprised. Next year, I think we have a good good good shot to get back here.”
Sam Mesecar captured 150+ photos at the game!
Scoring
| Period | Time | Team | Goal | Score |
| 1H | 6′ | Frank W. Cox | Robbie Morgan | 1-0 |
| 2H | 55′ | Frank W. Cox | Robbie Morgan | 2-0 |