The Observer Newspapers | Herndon Defeats Fairfax in District Semi-finals

April 17, 2008

Herndon Defeats Fairfax in District Semi-finals

At 77 minutes past the start of the game, Herndon and Fairfax were tied 0-0. Fairfax's goalkeeper had made several saves to keep his team in the game at this point, but in the 78th minute Anatole Doak pounded home a loose ball 4 yards from goal to push Herndon into the Concorde District finals with a rematch against Westfield.

The play started with a foul just outside Fairfax's penalty box. Christian McLaughlin and Alex Darwiche talked it over at the point of the foul and then McLaughlin headed into the box. Darwiche placed a well-struck ball to McLaughlin (12 goals, 15 assists) as he was running across the goal mouth and flicked it on target. Fairfax's goalkeeper was up for the initial save but could not hold on to the shot. Doak (five goals, four assists) was there to hammer home the rebound before a Fairfax defender could clear the ball out.

Sean Murnane, despite having about four defenders shadowing him all night, got behind Fairfax's defense on several occasions, but could not seem to solve the heroics of Fairfax's goalkeeper.

On the other side of the field, defenders Chris Geyer, Eric Meyers, Luke Merrill, Sol Mourtaza and Herndon goalkeeper Alex Stopa earned Herndon's first shutout since April 2. The back four worked as a unit to shut Fairfax's dynamic striker down and not give him a clean look at the Herndon goal. Diego Herrera and Ed Hernandez did a great job coming off the bench playing in the midfield and striker role, respectively. Both contributed some quality minutes when their number was called to step in and play.