WAYNESBORO — For the past two seasons, the Waynesboro girls soccer team enjoyed success in the regular season but ultimately saw their years end early with a loss in the regional playoffs to Fluvanna County.
Not this year.
After 63 minutes of producing solid opportunities but failing to convert, junior Lydia Pickering corralled a ball in the box, and it flew off her foot into the top right corner of the goal to put the Giants up 1-0 over the Flying Flucos and ultimately send her team into the Region 3C semifinals.
“I saw the opening after I had an opening before and didn’t get it,” Pickering said. “I could hear my coaches in my head; they always say at practice, ‘You have to get it. You have to get it.’ So I just focused and let it rip.”
Little Giants head coach Eli Moore wrote down a few words before the game that he shared with his team after the win, highlighted by the phrase, “Failure is only failure if you let it define you.” Moore said he strongly felt the Little Giants would come out with a win on Thursday evening.
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“They rose to the occasion and played hard,” Moore said. “That’s what I told them all season. You work to be in the situation of the win-or-go-home games, and you rise above it and win.”
Waynesboro did well defensively to limit the Flying Flucos’ opportunities all evening. The Little Giants survived a scare with around 28 minutes left in the first half where goalkeeper Bayley Campbell was knocked over, and the ball was loose, but the defense cleared it before any damage occurred.
On the offensive side of the field, the Little Giants found their way into the box consistently and put a handful of shots on goal before Pickering converted the game-winning attempt.
“We don’t have a lack of opportunities. We don’t have a lack of skill. We just get unlucky sometimes,” Moore said. “We’ve said all season that one of these days, they’re all going to start going in.”
Waynesboro advances to play either Liberty Christian Academy or Charlottesville on Tuesday. Charlottesville defeated the Little Giants earlier this season after a Waynesboro own goal sent the game into overtime.
“We’re feeling good,” Pickering said. “We’re a completely different team than at the beginning of the year. I think we’re going to do great.”
