Sophomore forward Mathew Carlin scored the game's lone goal in the 15th minute, and Battlefield rode six second-half saves from senior goalie Anthony Estrada to a 1-0 win in their Class 6 Region B boys soccer semifinal against Osbourn Park in Haymarket on Wednesday.
With the victory, the Bobcats (14-5-1) advanced to their first state tournament since 2017 and will pay a visit to Forest Park on Friday night for the regional championship.
The Yellow Jackets (10-5-4), fresh off last Thursday's upset of Cardinal District regular season champion Gar-Field, trailed at the quarter-hour mark when Carlin pounced on a deflection off a throw-in and fired it past OP goalie Giancarlo Alderetes. It was the only one of the Bobcats’ six first-half shots on goal that the senior didn’t stop.
“I thought in the first half, we were a little bit better offensively getting forward,” Battlefield coach Wes Homan said. “We did have some nice combinations in the middle so we could put them under pressure.”
In the second half, OP attacked with a far greater sense of urgency and aggression than they showed in the game’s first 40 minutes. Six of the Yellow Jackets’ 10 shot attempts in the period saw frame, but Estrada, also a senior, saw them first.
Estrada made the Bobcats’ varsity squad for the first time this season and was tabbed for the starting job a couple of weeks into the year. “I feel really happy about this moment,” he said. “Everything [was] quick for them” in the second half, referring to Osbourn Park’s offensive push, but he pointed to the natural instincts that earned him the job in the first place as the reason why his side advanced.
The Yellow Jackets and their 13 seniors, denied a chance at playing for the ultimate crown, ended their season with a valiant effort after knocking off a district champion and look forward to a retooling that will have them back in this spot next year.
“We have a big graduating class, [but] luckily we also do have a lot of returners, so the future looks bright just like always,” Osbourn Park coach Osmundo Giron said.
A date next week with Landstown or Floyd E. Kellam, both from Virginia Beach, await both Battlefield and Forest Park in the first round of states June 6; for Homan, just getting back into the tournament left him at a near-loss for words.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, I’ll be honest with you,” he said, “but it does feel good.”
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