JF soccer teams shoot for first state titles

Neither Jefferson Forest’s boys or girls soccer teams have ever won a state championship, but both squads are two wins away from claiming their first at this weekend’s Group AA tournament at Radford University’s Cupp Stadium.

The undefeated Cavaliers’ boys (22-0), who lost to 11-time state champion Blacksburg on penalty kicks in the 2009 state semis, could get a rematch with the Bruins with a win over Tabb today at noon.

The Tigers won two state titles in the mid-1990s after losing to Blacksburg in the first Group AA state final in 1989 and before falling to the Bruins again in the 2005 title match, when Forest assistant coach Mike Krewinghaus was a starting center midfielder for Tabb.

Krewinghaus, a Hampden-Sydney graduate, also serves as an assistant coach at Lynchburg College, where senior captains Devin Jones and Bryan Zaring, the Seminole District player of the year, will play in the fall.

Forest 19th-year head coach Jedd Zaring, who’s guided the Cavaliers to five previous state Final Fours, losing to Charlottesville on PKs in the 2004 title match, knows JF must do a better job of finishing its scoring opportunities today than it did in a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Hidden Valley.

“I’d hate to miss as many (chances) Friday as we did tonight,” Zaring said Tuesday after watching a few golden one-on-ones with Titans goalkeeper Eric Kessler get away.

JF’s girls (19-0-2), meanwhile, face an even more imposing threat to their unbeaten streak, taking on three-time defending state champion Broad Run, a 5-1 winner over Jamestown on Tuesday, in their semifinal, starting at 4 p.m.

The Cavaliers are coming off their second shootout win in three games, beating Hidden Valley for the first time in four consecutive state quarterfinal matchups Tuesday at home. They now have three of the four trophies they want in their possession — Seminole District regular-season co-champions and tournament champions and Region III tournament champions — but are hungry for the most coveted cup.

“Now, we’re looking for that pretty gold one that says ‘State Champion’ on it,” JF head coach Stan Golon said.

His players have learned the power of positive thinking, which showed in their breakthrough win over the Titans.

“You have negative thoughts (on the field) and you have to throw them out immediately,” he said.

Forest’s girls went from playing on one of the smallest fields in the state, William Byrd’s narrow pitch that hosted the Region III Final Four, to its spacious home field at Forest for Tuesday’s quarterfinal to one of the widest fields they’ll ever play on at Radford.

“We played on a small, tiny field with a crown on it (at Byrd),” Golon said. “It took a game to adjust to that.”

He said playing at Cupp Stadium, besides being perfectly suited to JF’s possession-oriented game, provides the Cavs a little incentive since forward Chelsea Hayes has signed to play at Radford this fall.

“That’s going to be her home field,” Golon said.

Today and Saturday, they hope to make it their own.