Athletes from Southwest Virginia have helped deliver stunning wins, reach milestone achievements and came through with clutch performances in the postseason over the course of the past couple of weeks.
Yet, no moment was more poignant or touching as what transpired on May 30 in the semifinals of the VHSL Region 2D girls soccer tournament.
Wise County Central’s Olivia Webb scored on an assist from Abbie Jordan in the 58th minute to clinch a 1-0 victory over Richlands and send the Warriors to the state tournament for the first time in program history.
The history-making aspect was a small part of what made that Jordan-to-Webb goal meaningful.
It occurred a little more than a month after Jordan’s younger brother, Nate, died in an ATV accident in Wise County. Nate Jordan was a seventh-grader at L.F. Addington Middle School, a skilled athlete and popular among all those who knew him.
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“These past six weeks the unthinkable happened, my life had been flipped upside down,” Jordan said. “Nate was truly one of my biggest supporters in all my sports. He came to all my games.”
Abbie Jordan contemplated putting her sports career on hold in the wake of the tragedy.
“Truthfully I don’t think I would’ve went back to soccer if it wasn’t for my parents [Donnie and Courtney],” Jordan said. “They knew how much I loved it and they didn’t want me to miss out on anything this year. I’m truly grateful that they pushed me to go back and now I can say that I had a part in making history.”
It has benefitted Jordan as she copes with the grief.
“Soccer definitely helped me,” she said. “It gave me a reason to get out of the house and to just get my mind off of everything. My teammates were the best. They supported me in everything. My teammates were there to make me laugh, someone to talk to, and something to just have fun. They honored Nate in wearing ribbons that said ‘Play4Nate.’ I know Nate’s proud of my team and how far we have come. From now on in every sporting event I do, it’s all for Nate.”
Abbie Jordan is also a basketball standout for the Warriors and helped Central win a Class 2 state title in 2022 and finish as runner-up in 2023.
The maturity the 16-year-old has demonstrated in leaning on her faith, family and friends recently has been more impressive than anything she’s done on the basketball court or soccer field.
“Abbie is one of the strongest young people I have ever met,” said Central girls soccer coach Matthew Mullins. “She approaches everything with her absolute best and with joy in her heart. … Abbie’s family are some of the best and sweetest people you could ever meet in life and they are greatly loved and respected in our community. I can never truly understand how difficult their life has been over the past several weeks but I know that Abbie is living a life of faith in Jesus to honor her brother.”
Several signs around Central’s soccer stadium have featured hash-tags along with phrases such as: #BelieveLikeNate, #PlayforNate and #LoveLikeNate.
Central (16-3-2) plays at Appomattox (15-0) today in a VHSL Class 2 state quarterfinal match and Abbie Jordan will once again play to honor her younger sibling.
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Graham (18-0) hosts defending state champion Glenvar (16-3) in another Class 2 girls soccer quarterfinal match this evening.
Honaker (7-5-1) welcomes Auburn in a Class 1 girls quarterfinal clash. Lebanon forfeited its Class 1 quarterfinal match at Eastern Montgomery due to not having enough available players for the match.
In Class 2 boys soccer state quarterfinal matches involving local teams on Tuesday, Virginia High (19-0-1) meets Radford (12-3-1) at 6 p.m. at Emory & Henry College and Graham (9-9-1) goes to Glenvar.
In Class 1 boys quarterfinal matches, Honaker (14-3) is on the road at Galax and Lebanon (15-1-1) welcomes Giles.
Complete capsule previews of those games are available on HeraldCourier.com