MC soccer boys improving

Madison County’s boys soccer team began its 2009 season with a commanding 13-0 victory over Page County’s Panthers in a pre-season scrimmage. This brought forth high hopes for Head Coach Jacob Martens and Assistant Coach Tim Bostic.

“We have a very well balanced team with size, speed, and experience,” said Coach Martens.

The Mountaineers returned 13 of their 20-player roster from 2008. A total of 10 seniors, six juniors and four sophomores make up the squad for 2009.

Lead by senior capitans Adam Holbrook, Tucker Ford and Shepherd Waldenberger, the Mountaineers are a very deep experienced squad that has the potential to do great things this season.

“We are a serious competitor in the Bull Run District this spring, especially for the district title,” said Coach Martens.

The Mountaineers felt the strain of a competitive regular season losing 5-6 games while only amounting one tie against Orange County. This had Coach Martens going back to the drawing board time and time again. With that came trial and error period that brought the Mountaineers to the start of the Bull Run District games against George Mason’s Mustangs on April 2. Though unable to hold the Mustangs at bay, the Mountaineers showed promising signs of good things to come in their 3-2 loss. Shepherd Waldenberger scored both goals keeping the Mountaineers close on the heels of the Mustangs.

“We have the potential to do a lot more. If we continue to play hard as a team, learn from our mistakes, and apply that knowledge to get better every game,” said Coach Martens.

On April 9 the Mountaineers traveled to Rappahannock County to take on the Panthers. After 40 minutes of play, the game was tied 1-1, with a goal scored by Dominic Roebuck. One goal and a few well-spoken words from Coach Martens at half is all the Mountaineers needed to gain confidence and see the match through to the final whistle.

Madison scored three more goals in the second half while limiting “Rapp” to only a few shots on goal. Seniors Jack Laub and Nathan Batman each found the net before Dominic Roebuck claimed his second and final goal of the match. The final score was 4-1 with the Mountaineers on top.

Knotted at 1-1 in the Bull Run District, the Mountaineers looked to claim victory over Strasburg’s Rams on April 17. Showing intensity, the Mountaineers took to the field in force.

In a true show of leadership by example, Captain Tucker Ford scored off a through ball from Captain Adam Holbrook.

Holbrook then tallied a goal, followed by Captain Shepherd Waldenberger scoring two goals. Zach Herrman scored the final goal of the match for the Mountaineers claiming a 5-0 shut-out over the Rams.

“We (coaches) see improvement every week and we will continue to grow as the season progresses,” said Coach Martens.