Princess Anne had an opportunity to walk away sweeping the region championships in boys and girls soccer Friday night but couldn’t quite get it done.
After the girls pulled off a dominant comeback win to start the night, the boys were kept scoreless and fell short of a region title.
In the girls game, it took a while for the Cavaliers to come aroundbut when they did, they took total control of it.
First Colonial jumped out to an early lead with a goal five minutes in courtesy of Joryn Wold. When the Patriots added their second goal of the game from Ava Bourne, it looked like the game was First Colonial’s to lose.
Princess Anne started its comeback a few minutes later thanks to a breakaway goal from Nina Murthy, cutting First Colonial’s lead to 2-1.
Murthy started another fast break with seven minutes left in the game and after her shot missed, Isabella Cobos slotted one into the goal to tie the game 2-2 going into halftime.
“Nina, she’s a catalyst for the team,” Princess Anne coach Dwayne James said. “Any game she goes in, everyone has to be aware of what she’s doing. So when she gets on the field, she easily commands two or three players and so that frees up a lot of space and we know how to play off of her and feed off of her energy and her dynamic movement.”
The first 25 minutes of the second half were quiet, but then Princess Anne broke it open.
The Cavaliers scored three goals in a span of three minutes to take the score to 5-2 in a blink of an eye.
Murthy got the scoring started with her second goal of the night and was followed by goals from Audren Barclay and Keeley Ferguson.
“We’re losing a lot of seniors this year,” Murthy said. “We want to get as far as we can, this is really important for us. I’m just so proud of this team. We worked harder than ever, with our new coach, just collaborating, working on new things, trying to do the best we can.”
The win is believed to be the first region title in Princess Anne girls history and comes in James’ first year at the helm of the program.
“I think it’s the first time,” James said. “It’s surreal. I can’t be more proud of the girls. They’ve done phenomenally and we’re just looking forward to getting everybody back healthy and then next week, we go onto the next steps.”
Princess Anne will face the runner up of Class 5 Region B championship game in the state tournament.
FINAL | Princess Anne 5, First Colonial 2
Princess Anne wins the Class 5 Region A girls soccer championship!@757teamz pic.twitter.com/7j1biW3JI5
— Michael Sauls (@mcsauls) June 2, 2023
The Class 5 Region A championship has eluded the Cox boys soccer team the last two years. Last year the Falcons won a state title, but couldn’t get it done on the region stage.
On Friday night, Cox and first-year head coach Santo Ripa finally won it.
“We’ve been talking about this since we started playing,” Ripa said. “We’ve been going game by game. Our mentality is 1-0 and we go game by game. When you get to this position, it’s win or go home and at the end of the day, that group earned this. Now, don’t get me wrong, it was ugly at the end and I’m not happy about it. But hey, the scoreboard read the same so we’re all right.”
The lone goal of the night came with five minutes left in the first half from Cox’s Dax Booth. It was all the Falcons needed to secure the victory.
Despite Cox’s one-goal advantage, the game felt even the entire way.
Princess Anne had several chances late to tie the game but never found the back of the net.
“It was a good game, (Princess Anne) is a hell of a team no matter how you shape it,” Ripa said.
Now, Cox will turn its attention to defending its state title and will host the Class 5 Region B runner-up in the first round of the state tournament on Tuesday.
“We’ve gone through some serious adversity this season,” Ripa said. “We have given away 2-0 leads left and right, we’ve given up goals that we should never give away and now that we’re entering that postseason mentality our system is more defined. It’s more established and we have more confidence when we do and I think that’s going to help with regard to those stupid mistakes and miscues and whatnot. So I think that’s our edge right now, we’ve endured a little.”
Cox head coach Santo Ripa celebrating with the team after the win.
With the win, Cox gets the region title that has eluded them the last two seasons.
Next up is a run at defending their state title. @757teamz pic.twitter.com/581ZacmRjB
— Michael Sauls (@mcsauls) June 3, 2023
Michael Sauls, [email protected], (757) 803-5775
