The Tigers made the short trip to Lynchburg, VA to take on New Covenant School in the season finale. With another great effort, Hargrave gave it their all before being defeated 3-1. The young Tigers finished the season 1-9-1 but made more positive strides than their record indicates.
Heading into the last game of the season, Coach Zerpa and the Tigers wanted to experiment with a new, more aggressive, 3-4-3 lineup. Having three strikers really paid off for Hargrave as they created many goal scoring opportunities in the first half but unfortunately couldn’t capitalize. New Covenant lead 1-0 at the half after scoring late in the first half.
With four minutes remaining in the season, the young Tigers gave everything they had left towards scoring a goal to end the season on a high note. Hargrave added an extra man to the midfield to help push and apply pressure. Suddenly, Nicholas Brown stole the ball and found space to move into the attacking third. Brown gave a great pass to Ezekiel “Zeel” Umali, who dribbled right past his defender and put the ball on net, just inside the 18′. New Covenant’s keeper deflected the shot but it was rebounded by Gavin O’Connor who found Christopher Roe on the opposite post for the goal!
Coach Zerpa, after the game, said, “What a way to end the season! These young men have come a long way from where they started. We gained valuable playing experience and grew both as a team and individually. I cannot be more thankful to my assistant Elliott Perkins for being such a great and supportive assistant and I truly appreciated the guidance from Coach (Jeremy) Eubank and Coach (Scott) Roach throughout the season. Many thanks to all our supporters and I can’t wait to see what this group continues to do going forward!”
