by Chris Naquin
DigitalSports Richmond
Thomas Dale, ranked third in the DigitalSports Top 10, defeated tenth-ranked Matoaca 2-0 in its home game on Tuesday night.
The Knights were led by their two star captains, senior midfielder Patrick Innes and junior midfielder Will Bates who each had a goal and an assist in the win.
The Knights dominated the Warriors from the beginning of the game by keeping possession of the ball and creating several dangerous scoring opportunities.
The first goal of the match came from one of many dangerous corner kicks by Innes, as he delivered a hard in-swinger to the near post where a crashing Bates met it with his head and deflected it into the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead.
“I felt we came out kind of slow and sluggish,” Innes said. “We had a dozen corner kicks in the first half and couldn’t seem to score until Will got on the end of one. Once we scored, it lightened up the game and we were able to knock it around a bit.”
The game definitely opened up for Thomas Dale in the second half.
It only took three minutes for the Knights to score again.
This time it was Bates who would assist Innes on the goal as he slotted a nice through ball to Innes who was able to finish from six yards out to take a 2-0 lead.
The Knights continued to pressure the Warriors the remainder of the match and almost scored a few more but they could not seem to get their shots on frame.
Matoaca’s offense was no where to be found as they were shut out by the Knights defense who broke up every type of attack the Warriors created.
Thomas Dale remains undefeated at 11-0 this season and are looking forward to playing other power house squads such as Deep Run and Cosby.
“We are looking forward to Regionals,” Bates said. “Especially after losing to Cosby last year, we want to get back at them. As for Deep Run, we know a lot of those guys so we are looking forward to it.”
Matoaca 0 0 – 0
Thomas Dale 1 1 – 2
TD: Bates, Innes
Saves: Burdick (M) 7; Lehman (TD) 3
Records: Matoaca (6-2-1 Central, 6-2-1); Thomas Dale (9-0, 11-0)
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