Jack Brown ‘23
Staff Editor
A bright and early game on Sunday saw Barristers United looking to extend their perfect record, while La Celeste kept searching for their first win of the season. The game went as expected, with Barristers winning comfortably 7-0 to build their lead at the top of the SOCA Co-Rec League Division A table.
With a big match coming up next week against Kerfuffle FC, the squad most experts pick as Barrister’s greatest threat to the title, Manager Turk chose to sit several starters. This did not pose much of an issue to the team, whose depth is the envy of the rest of the league.
Barristers played with confidence as a midfield trio of Day Robins, Jordan Walsh, and Tom Schnoor were able to dominate La Celeste’s playmakers and helped keep the ball out of Barrister’s half. Thanks to the hours on the training ground, these players were able to instantly gel despite it being their first time in an official match together.
The highlight of this trio came near the end of the first half, where a brilliant sequence ended with Jordan channeling his inner Zidane to spin between two defenders and bury the ball in the bottom left corner of the net. Thanks to their efforts, and solid play from the rest of the squad, the score to end the first half was 4-0.
During halftime, Captain Zach made an impassioned speech for the team to do their best not to get hurt, due to some members of La Celeste having questionable tackling technique. With the game already in hand, looking forward to the rest of the season was the squad’s main focus now.
In the second half, Barristers were able to continue their good form with a brilliant half volley from fan favorite Stephen Wald, and a powerful strike from Kelli Finnegan, who had been terrorizing Celeste’s left back the entire game. Impressive fullback play from Christian Sorensen and Erin Magoffie, along with a collected performance from John Lawrence, who is working his way back from a hamstring injury, kept Barristers in control till the final whistle.
All in all, it was a dominant performance capped off with Barrister’s first clean sheet of the season. Next week they are going to be at Kerfuffle FC for a highly anticipated top of the table clash.
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jwb4bb@virginia.edu