D10 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, JUNE 12 , 2022
High SchoolsAfter nearly doubling up its
opponents (20-11) during the
first five games of the postsea-
son, the Rams were unable to
reach the back of the net against
a stingy Cox team that had
allowed just five goals in the
playoffs.
“I think that in some ways we
were just out of gas today,” Harris
said. “Felt like maybe we burned
through our motivation tank
when we scored six yesterday. We
had a lot of good looks, but
nothing went our way. That’s
what makes this beautiful game
so tough at times.”
For Cox (16-4-1), Robbie Mor-
gan’s two goals ensured that the
Falcons’ long drive home to Vir-
ginia Beach would be a festive
one. Saturday’s title was the pro-
gram’s first in 12 years.
“Whenever you have to travel a
long distance like we did today,
there’s always a worry that the
kids will come out sluggish or not
have their usual juice,” Cox Coach
Eric Blackmore said. “But man,
did they come play their hearts
out today. That’s a great River-
side team over there that gave us
everything they had, and our
guys stood toe to toe with them. I
couldn’t be more proud.”ry.
“To be honest with you, it’s
not about any one thing that I
did, because [Kendall] Garza
[the player who was fouled to
earn the team the penalty kick]
and pretty much every other girl
on this roster was just as capa-
ble,” DiMillio said. “But it means
the world to me that my coach
and teammates put their trust in
me and I was able to deliver.
Helping the team win is all that
matters.”
Winning the program’s third
state championship was even
better because it came against
First Colonial (18-2-1). In last
spring’s Class 5 final in Virginia
Beach, First Colonial handed Bri-
ar Woods its only loss of the year
by surviving in penalty kicks
after the teams ended overtime
tied at 3.
“Anytime you win a champion-
ship it feels amazing,” Price,
another Virginia Tech signee,
said through tears. “But to get
redemption from last year and
beat them with a penalty kick
like they did to us last year... it’s
hard to explain. Sort of feels like
a movie or something. It’s like
everything played out exactly as
it was supposed to.”JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
“It was exactly what our team needed in that moment,” Yorktown’s Ami Davis, third from right, said of her goal to break a scoreless tie.amount of speed. She met it
square and sent a perfectly
placed shot flying above the out-
stretched arms of a backtracking
Kellam keeper.
The Knights’ best opportunity
to level the game came off a
corner a few minutes later, when
an attacker headed the ball
toward an open goal. Yorktown
defender Evelyn Casadaban
knocked the ball away from the
goal with her body, keeping the
Patriots in front. Saturday’s game
was the 18th shutout posted by
Yorktown this season. The Patri-
ots allowed only one goal
throughout the postseason.
“We’ve always wanted this to
be a competitive but fun atmos-
phere,” Hannah Davis said. “I’ve
always wanted other players to
see us and say they wish they
could be on our team because of
the leadership of the players and
the quality of the play.”of giving 100 percent every time
they step on the field.”
The defense of that 2019
championship was derailed by
the pandemic, and Yorktown
made an early postseason exit
last spring. By this season, only a
few of the Patriots had played a
role in that championship. And
yet they still set a lofty bar for
success.
“A championship has been the
thing we all look forward to in
our high school careers,” Ami
Davis said. “There’s so much
talent here, but we also love each
other so much.”
Yorktown (22-1-1) controlled
the early run of play Saturday,
but genuine scoring chances
were hard to come by. Davis’s
goal seemed to arise from noth-
ing. The ball was being bounced
around as Kellam tried to clear
out a Yorktown attack, and it
came to Davis’s feet with a goodly what our team needed in that
moment. The energy and inten-
sity picked up from there.”
This is the third state champi-
onship and second title in three
seasons for Yorktown, another
testament to the culture of domi-
nance that has been established
at the Arlington school. The sen-
iors on this year’s roster lost just
three games in their high school
careers.
“High school soccer is so much
about pride and enjoying your
four years,” Patriots Coach Han-
nah Davis said. “And this group
has held such a good reputationBY MICHAEL ERRIGOMuch of Saturday’s Class 6
girls’ soccer championship game
was spent with the ball in the
midfield, battled over and passed
about by the Yorktown Patriots
and the Kellam Knights. The
final thirds stood as sacred
ground, with scoring chances a t a
premium on a cloudy and cool
afternoon in Loudoun County.
It wasn’t until the game’s clos-
ing stages, with 12 minutes left
on the clock, that a player decid-
ed to stop trying to push the ball
forward and instead let it fly.
Yorktown junior Ami Davis sent
a rocket toward goal from about
35 yards out, shattering a score-
less game and giving her team a
1-0 victory.
“It seemed like I had a pretty
decent look at the goal, but I
knew I had to hit it with plenty of
power,” Davis said. “It was exact-VIRGINIA CLASS 6 GIRLS’ SOCCER FINALRocket shot puts Patriots b ack on topYORKTOWN 1,
KELLAM 0Program’s seniors have
just three career lossesBY TRAMEL RAGGSA soccer team with six losses
doesn’t often reach the state
championship game, yet River-
side did just that following an
surprising run through the Vir-
ginia state playoffs.
But after an upset of Region C
champion Clover Hill in the
quarterfinals and a blowout win
over Kecoughtan in the semifi-
nals, the Rams’ surge came to a
halt with a 2-0 loss to Cox in the
Class 5 championship game Sat-
urday in Ashburn.
“With the way our regular
season played out, I’ve got to be
honest with you, we definitely
didn’t predict that our season
would end in the championship
game,” Riverside Coach Kieran
Harris said. “I mean, you see how
gutted these guys are, like it
definitely stings, but on the other
hand, we’re just happy and per-
haps a bit lucky to be here, so it’s
tough to be mad with the result.”
Because of injuries, Riverside
(15-7) had a consistently chang-
ing lineup. But as the playoffs
came into view the Rams started
to get healthy.
With health came confidence
and a sense of belief, which
translated to wins as Riverside
used its regular season adversity
to band together for a special
run.
“It’s kind of funny,” senior
Alexander Thissell said. “People
ask us all the time how we got
here, and I try to think of some-
thing deep or fancy to say, but
honestly we just started believ-
ing in one another and the wins
started rolling in.”VIRGINIA CLASS 5 BOYS’ SOCCER FINAL
Rams’ postseason sprint
falls short at finish line
COX 2,
RIVERSIDE 0BY TRAMEL RAGGSWith 23 minutes remaining in
the first half Saturday, Briar
Woods senior Kendall DiMillio
walked to the designated penalty
spot with the chance to break a
scoreless tie.
Despite the pressure of play-
ing in the Class 5 girls’ soccer
state championship game, Di-
Millio appeared at ease as she
glanced into the stands of her
home field in Ashburn before
returning her gaze to the oppos-
ing goalie.
As the team practiced penalty
kicks the past few weeks to
determine who would attempt
one in a crucial situation, DiMil-
lio repeatedly proved she wasbuilt for role.
And on Saturday, she deposit-
ed the ball into the back of the
net, sending her teammates and
Falcons fans into a frenzy as
Briar Woods scored the lone
goal in a 1-0 win over First
Colonial.
“You know Taylor gets most of
the headlines and deservedly so,
but this team has a roster full of
stars from top to bottom,” Briar
Woods Coach Caly Bruton said,
referencing star player Taylor
Price, who scored three goals in
the team’s 7-1 semifinal victory
over Cox on Friday. “I’m sure a lot
of outsiders thought she’d be the
one to take the kick, but DiMillio
just really asserted herself as the
girl for this moment.”
DiMillio, a Virginia Tech
signee, also buried a first-half
penalty kick Friday that opened
the floodgates for the Falcons
(20-0-2) in their semifinal victo-VIRGINIA CLASS 5 GIRLS’ SOCCER FINALDiMillio’s free kick givesFalcons a bit of revengeBRIAR WOODS 1,
FIRST COLONIAL 0was super satisfying to win at the
end. I was super happy, especially
getting her back after the last one.”
In the Class 5 singles final, Bella
De Luise of Independence defeat-
ed Sia Chaudry of Clover Hill, 7-6
(8-6), 7-6 (8-6), in a match that was
as close as a two-setter can be.
“It was a super tight match,” De
Luise said. “I just wanted to stay
confident and stay aggressive in
my game because I didn’t really
want to give her a ball she could
take advantage of.... It’s just an
honor to be able to be in states and
play against some really good op-
ponents.”County’s Kaitlin Nguyen, who
beat Bergeron in the semifinals
last year and just won this year’s
doubles tournament with team-
mate Maya Wilson.
After losing the first few points
during Saturday’s rematch,
Bergeron had to mentally reset.
“I went down in the beginning
just because of how nervous I
was,” said Bergeron, who pulled it
together in plenty of time to win,
6-4, 6-2. “But I took a couple of
deep breaths before starting the
next game, and I just focused more
on every shot rather than the over-
all outcome of the match.... So itparticularly now that high school
sports were mostly back to nor-
mal.
“It was kind of like a rebirth
moment for high school tennis,
especially compared to the two
years before,” Staton said. “So it
was really great to see, especially
for me. Since I’m a sophomore, I
haven’t been able to experience
something like this before until
now.”
The Class 6 girls’ finals were a
story of nerves and revenge.
Madison junior Simone
Bergeron knew she would be in for
a tough match against Southcongratulations, a lot of happy
moments, getting back into it and
being like: ‘Okay, here we go again.... It’s only the beginning.’ ”
The doubles finals Friday also
featured Staton vs. Truong, but in
that match, Truong and his part-
ner, Ansh Pathapadu, came out on
top. It was a drawn-out battle,
ending 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, but Staton
said the loss motivated him to win
the singles title, redeeming him-
self and doubles partner Rebhi
Villasmil.
Staton was happy to see his
young school’s tennis program
continue to expand this season,
he swept W.T. Woodson senior
Vincent Truong, 6-0, 6-2.
“I think the biggest challenge
that I overcame was trying to get
myself back up from last year and
kind of keep the momentum going
even after winning states last
year,” Staton said. “I had to really
lock in again, even after a lot ofBY AARON CREDEURWhen Colgan’s Matthew Staton
won the Virginia Class 6 singles
title as a freshman last year, he
knew it would be an even greater
challenge to defend his spot on
top.
Facing increased competition
as programs rebooted once pan-
demic restrictions were lifted, Sta-
ton had to raise his game for his
sophomore season. On Saturday,
he made it clear 2021 was no fluke:
Staton again donned a gold medal
after the singles finals at Hunting-
ton Park in Newport News, where
VIRGINIA CLASS 5 AND 6 TENNIS FINALS
After meteoric rise as a freshman, Colgan’s Staton shows he’s here to stay
Madison’s Bergeron,
Independence’s De Luise
claim girls’ singles winsBY MICHAEL ERRIGOLangley sophomore Dante
Tosado waited patiently for the
cross to reach his feet, knowing
he would have a prime scoring
chance when it finally did. He
looked up to find only the goal-
keeper in front of him, a rare
sight on a cloudy Saturday after-
noon in Loudoun County.
With confidence and calm, he
slotted the ball into the back of
the net and turned to sprint
toward his team’s bench. He
lifted both arms high in the air,
celebrating a goal, a win and a
championship.
On an afternoon that had been
mostly precarious, this was the
goal to make things certain: The
Langley Saxons were back on
top. With a 3-1 overtime win
against James River, Langley
earned its third state title and
first since 2017.
“I wasn’t quite sure if we were
going to pull that rabbit out,”
Coach Bo Amato said. “We were a
team that could lose to anyone
this year. But they always dug
deep. They always played hard.”
It was match that, for the most
part, did not go the Saxons’ way.
A scoreless, gritty stalemate
stretched on long enough that it
seemed neither team was going
to break through. When James
River took a 1-0 lead shortly after
halftime, the tense, physical na-
ture of the game made the lead
feel larger.
But Langley (18-2-1) kept chip-
ping away at the Rapids’ defense.
With 20 minutes remaining, sen-
ior Billy Oh received a ball
bouncing at the top of the box
and met it with a perfect little
volley, sending the ball into the
top of the net to level the game.
“After that first goal they
scored, we all just bought in and
decided we weren’t going out like
that,” senior defender Cole Fisher
said. “We went through so much
just making it out of our district,
making it out of our region. The
road we had to take was so tough,
I didn’t doubt for a second that
we were ready for adversity.”
The match went to extra time
tied at 1. The breakthrough came
a few minutes in. Oh navigated a
cluster of bodies in the box to
find the ball and poke it past the
goalkeeper to give the Saxons a
2-1 lead. It cemented the senior
forward, who had played on
defense until this spring, as a
postseason hero for the Saxons.
Oh scored twice in Friday’s semi-
final as well.
“He’s been unreal for us this
season,” senior defender Ona Si-
nani said. “Making that transi-
tion, he’s been unreal.”
From there, Langley had seven
minutes to play defense. Every
defensive clearance was a relief
until Tosado’s tally let the team
breathe easy.
“I just went to the bench and
started celebrating,” Sinani said.
“I put my ring finger in the sky
and said, ‘Give me that ring.’ ”VIRGINIA CLASS 6 BOYS’ SOCCER FINAL
In a gritty game, Saxons
come back to win in OT
LANGLEY 3,
JAMES RIVER 1 (OT)JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POSTDante Tosado, center, and the Saxons c ould finally exhale after
Tosado’s overtime goal put the finishing touch on Langley’s victory.