Va. State Cup: Hunter Hartnett brace powers Virginia Legacy Wizards past Beach FC U18 Red

By Jimmy LaRoue

Two sublime first-half goals from midfielder Hunter Hartnett stood up for Virginia Legacy SC Wizards despite massive second-half pressure from Beach FC U18 Red in a 2-1 upset win Saturday in VYSA Under-18 Boys State Cup play at the Hampton Roads Soccer Complex in Virginia Beach, Va.

“Hunter’s a great goal scorer for us,” Wizards coach Bobby O’Brien told Potomac Soccer Wire. “Fortunately enough, we were able to turn them over twice in their defending third and quickly counter.

"Both goals, we were able to win the ball in the middle and get the ball wide to him and he had to come in at a difficult angle, but somehow he stuck two in there.”

Early in the first half, however, both teams played to a relative stalemate as they traded scoring chances in the first 15 minutes. The closest was created by VLSC's Phillip Geyer, who ripped a free kick that forced the Beach FC goalkeeper into a diving save at the left post.

Hartnett tallied his first about 20 minutes into the match, taking a pass out wide on the right and dribbling in toward goal, beating the goalkeeper from eight yards at a sharp angle into the left corner of the goal to give the Williamsburg, Va.-based Wizards a 1-0 lead.

Three minutes later, Hartnett scored in a similar manner, getting another pass from the middle to the right-hand side, dribbling in and powering another low shot into the left corner to double the lead.

“The first half, we played exactly how we wanted to play,” O’Brien said.

Seeded fifth in the bracket, Beach FC attacked hard after the intermission as they looked to avoid a premature exit from the tournament. Coach Eric Blackmore's team was unlucky not to get an early goal on two probing free kicks to open the second half, including one that forced Geyer to clear off the goal line.

“You could feel the momentum shift a little bit,” O’Brien noted afterwards. “They had two free kicks right outside the box, and I think that shifted the momentum, like, ‘Oh crap, we’ve got to defend better,' so then, the rest of the half, we were on our heels and they were very good."

Beach FC continued to press, but could not get a goal until the waning seconds of the match.

O’Brien said his Wizards team does not have any superstars, but collectively works hard for each other, liking to play a more direct, "run-and-gun" style of soccer and uses three players in the midfield to help stretch the field and then scrap in the box for goals.

The team started its fall season after Labor Day and is still settling on a rotation, but believes the team is peaking in State Cup play at the right time.

“These are just a bunch of guys who really love soccer and want to go out with a bang here in their last year here,” O’Brien said.

U18B – VYSA State Cup
Beach FC U18 Red    1   
VLSC Wizards        2
Location: Hampton Roads Soccer Complex

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