The Glenvar soccer teams are in the state semifinals and they won’t have far to go. Both the Highlander boys and girls will play Class 2 state semifinal games on Friday at Spartan Field in front of Salem High School.
The boys will play first at 9 am against Nandua High School of Onley, VA. The Warriors are the defending Class 2 state
champions and they’ll come to Salem with a 15-1 record while Glenvar awaits with a 19-0-1 mark after beating Virginia High Tuesday in a regional quarterfinal game at Glenvar. The Highlanders remained undefeated with a 5-1 win.
The girls will play at 3 pm against a strong Luray team, who beat Bruton 8-1 in their quarterfinal game Tuesday. The state championship games are at Salem High Saturday with the Class 2 boys at 10 am and the girls at 12:30 pm.
On Tuesday both Glenvar teams scored convincing wins. The girls traveled to Union High as the Region 2C runner-up and jumped to a 4-0 lead over the Bears before coasting to a 7-4 win. Sophomore Giuliana Stanley had four goals for the Highlanders while Campbell Hardin had two and Rhyan Harris had a goal and two assists. Faren Wilson had two assists while Kailah Finley and Jordin Crouch had one each as Glenvar improved to 17-4 overall.
The girls were on the road Tuesday after dropping a tight game to Alleghany in the Region 2C final last week, giving them the region “runner-up” seed to open state play. Alleghany, a fellow Three Rivers District team, beat the Highlanders for the third time this season, this time by a 4-3 count at Bogle Field in Roanoke County.
Glenvar got goals by Davin Tate, Harris and Stanley. Hardin assisted on Tate’s goal and Wilson assisted on the other two. The game was stopped twice by lightning delays and, after a 6 pm start, didn’t finish until after 9 pm.
The boys also led early, taking a 3-0 lead by the half and adding a fourth goal midway through the second half before Virginia High scored a late one to avoid the shutout. Glenvar then put the icing on the cake for the 5-1 win.
Riley Geddes had two goals for Glenvar while Jacson Shepherd had a goal and two assists. Christian Housh and Aiden Hylton also had goals and Colin Clapper and Bryce King had assists. Marco Gustafson had a slow night in the goal as Glenvar outshot the Bearcats, 25-2.
The Highlanders won the Region 2C championship last Friday at Bogle Stadium behind Cave Spring Middle School. The game was originally scheduled for Martinsville but moved to Bogle when Glenvar and Radford were in the final, saving fans some gas. Then, on Thursday, the girls’ region championship game preceded the boys and when lightning interrupted that game twice it was well after 9 pm and officials decided to play the game on Friday, when clearer skies were predicted.
It was a nice evening on Friday, but the Glenvar boys brought the thunder as they hammered Radford 7-1 for a convincing win. It was the third win of the season over their Three Rivers District rivals, including a game at Radford that went into overtime before the Highlanders prevailed.
This time there was no drama as the Highlanders raced to a 5-0 halftime lead. Maddox Fisher opened the scoring with a header off a scramble in front of the cage and from that time on it was all Glenvar. Fisher ended with two goals, Geddes and King had two each and Owen Montanez had the other. Shepherd had two assists and Geddes, King, Montanez and Kian Fisher had one each.
When the Highlanders host Nandua on Friday coach Josh Jones will have no trouble finding the field. Spartan Field was his home pitch for 18 years as coach of the Salem High girls team, leading the Spartans to a state championship in 2003 and many region and state appearances.
“It will be like a home game,” said Jones. “It should be a great atmosphere for us, playing right down the road on a turf field, and hopefully we’ll have a good crowd.”
