Revenge Fuels Dale

Carrie Jaeckle, one of Dales tri-captains, played excellent at forward in a huge win over Colonial Heights.

by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports
04/26/2007

Revenge is a powerful, potent and perfect weapon when used in the sports arena.

Take Thomas Dale�??s girls soccer team, for instance. Colonial Heights buried the Knights 2-0 four weeks ago.

The
Knights took the loss and all its feelings, bottled it up and outplayed
and outhustled the Colonials Thursday evening, taking a 3-0 victory.

Thomas
Dale (7-1 Central District, 8-2) now controls its own destiny in the
district as Colonial Heights (5-1-1, 7-1-1), ranked fifth in the
current DigitalSports Top 10, has to hope someone can trip up No. 10
Dale.

�??I always like to be on top. That�??s how I like it,�?� Dale senior tri-captain Karri Bridges said. �??Yeah, it was revenge. I think we were all pretty mad at the loss.�?�

It showed as Dale peppered CH goalie Amanda Holt like she was a target at a firing range. Holt, a junior, was up to the task, however, keeping TD at bay early.

That was until TD midfielder Loren Favale scored from point-blank range with 18:00 left in the first half for the Knights�?? 1-0 lead.

�??Intensity. They wanted it more than we did,�?� Colonial Heights coach Leo Brenes said. �??They scored the first goal and we never recovered from that.�?�

TD
continued to control tempo and achieve opportunities, but couldn�??t put
in another score. It was more of the same to start the second half as
both teams could not sustain offense.

Then, boom! Bridges raced down the right sideline to field a perfect feed from Monique Mack.

With a Colonial on her back, Bridges struck a ball David Beckham
would be jealous of, bending her shot into the left side of the goal
from an extremely difficult angle for a 2-0 lead with 24 minutes to go.

Eight minutes later, Tiffany VanDecker
beat Holt for a 3-0 lead as the shocked Colonials realized the Master
Lock they planned to put on the district race was stolen by Dale.

�??There
are still a lot of games left in the season, but we knew this was a
crucial game,�?� Brenes said. �??Now we�??re going to have to look in the
paper and see what other teams have done. You want to play as the No. 1
team in the district, you have to leave it all on the field.�?�

Said Dale coach John Kabler: �??We control our own destiny. If we can win out, we win the district. That�??s nice to know.�?�

Colonial Heights 0 0 – 0

Thomas Dale     1 2 – 3

TD: Favale, Bridges, Vandecker

Saves: Holt (CH) 8; Dowlen (TD) 3

Knights Continue To Roll

Will Bates was sensational at midfield for Thomas Dale.

Thomas
Dale is not as good as last year�??s two-time state champion. Everyone
involved with the boys soccer team would admit that.

But
if the Knights continue to play similar to how they did in a 5-0
victory over Prince George Thursday evening, TD will be a tough out for
anyone around.

Dale
(6-0 Central, 8-0) was aggressive from the first whistle. TD was
whippet quick in back and near the Royals�?? goal. The Knights held the
ball like their life depended on it, and played most of the game in
Prince George�??s territory.

It all equaled quick scoring and put a lot of doubt in the minds of the Royals early.

�??The problem is that they�??ve developed such a reputation,�?� Royals coach Tom Harrison
said of the Knights, ranked first in the DigitalSports Top 10 and sixth
in the United States by the National Soccer Coaches Association/adidas
(www.nscaa.com). �??You make a mistake, they capitalize on it.�?�

Only seven minutes into the contest, Patrick Innes fought off a Royal near the corner and beat goalkeeper A.J. Ricci to the right of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Then in the 24^th minute, Dustin Heling found Innes on a breakaway that the junior midfielder deposited in the net for a 2-0 advantage.

Innes
must have been trying to make up for lost time. Thursday was his first
game of the season after recovering from an ankle injury.

�??I
felt really good,�?� Innes said. �??We knocked the ball around very well. I
think this was by far our best performance of this year.�?�

In the next 13:00, TD scored two more goals; one on a strong finish by Heling, and the other a rebound putback by Shawn Van Decker after Ricci made a beautiful save on Will Bates�?? header.

�??We�??re
trying to keep our defense strong,�?� said Heling, who would add another
goal 10 minutes into the second half for the final margin. The Knights
have yet to yield a goal this season. �??Once we get the ball we�??re
trying to attack.�?�

Thomas Dale coach Mark Fowler liked what he witnessed.

�??I�??m happy that we started to hold the ball,�?� Fowler said. �??I�??m very pleased. They�??re starting to come together, which is nice.�?�

Not so nice for the rest of the Central Region.