Vikings squeak by Indians
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By HUGH RIST
For the News & Messenger
Published: May 14, 2008
The victory put Woodbridge (7-1-1 in district, 9-2-1 overall) in the driver’s seat for the district ti-tle with one game remaining tonight for both teams. Woodbridge plays Hylton and Gar-Field plays Forest Park.
Sofranac said Gar-Field has had Woodbridge’s number “since my freshman year, so it’s special.”
Sofranac sped in from the left wing, took a loose ball that senior Mardong Guevara got a slight touch on, and blasted it past senior goalkeeper Luis Guevara (no relation to Mardong) in the 19th minute. After the goal, Sofranac raised his arms, pumped his fists, and ran around yelling trium-phantly before being greeted by several of his teammates.
“Considering that it was Gar-Field and we were basically playing for the district title, it was kind of a lot of emotions coming out,” Sofranac said. “It was big for us to win a game like this before the district tournament next week so we can get some momentum.”
The game, which was postponed because of rain twice, was the second of three consecutive games for each team, making for a grueling week for both the Indians and the Vikings.
The two halves of the game were very dissimilar from each other in style, with Woodbridge pep-pering the goal with shots throughout the first half, while being outshot by Gar-Field and being limited to five shots in the second half. Gar-Field (6-2-1, 8-2-2) had a few shots just miss and one hit the post in the second half. But Indians coach Mark Markiewicz said he “couldn’t be prouder” of his team’s effort, especially after an injury to one of their key midfielders that occurred in Tuesday’s game forced them to play two freshmen—Curtis Einsman and Bruno Da Silva—for much of the game.
Gar-Field managed just 15 shots in the game, but had eight in the second half. Markiewicz said he wished the Indians had capitalized on more of their opportunities.
“I had two freshmen rushing up there, and we were peppering their goal with shots,” Markiewicz said. “It is a good learning experience for them. We had one shot hit the post and sev-eral others just miss. I tweaked a few things in the middle in the second half trying to find the right match for their (Woodbridge’s) speed. Our final passes have to be better, but it has been that way the past couple days for us.”
The game was marred by physical play with four yellow cards and one red card issued to Gar-Field and two yellow cards issued to Woodbridge. The physical play culminated with an aggressive slide tackle that cost Eric Amaya a red card in the waning moments of the game. Following the game’s end, several players on both teams shouted and gestured at each other. Sofranac said it was a natural overflow of an intense rivalry between the two teams.
“It’s like that between us and them,” Sofranac said. “It wasn’t even meant to be harmful. I would be disappointed if our guys didn’t show emotion. It shows they really care about beating Gar-Field.”
Markiewicz noted the players on both teams are familiar with each other off the field, so that added to the emotional setting.
“The players are friends off the court, so there are words, but it would never come to blows,” Markiewicz said. “I think there was just a lot of built up emotion.”
Another factor in the physical play, Markiewicz said, is this week’s schedule, which has teams playing three consecutive games, rather than the two games with days off in between that is the usual custom.
“In my opinion it is dangerous for the players,” Markiewicz said. “Their bodies are spent. It is tough to play back-to-back games, but we have to do it and we will need to have a good effort tomor-row (against Forest Park).”
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