Late-Night Victory for Vikings Over Bulldogs

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By Paul Frommelt

Prince William Content Editor

The Woodbridge girls soccer team's game against C.D. Hylton on Thursday night was not a typical game for the Vikings. An eerie fog hung low at a little past 10 p.m. on the artifical turf field at Howison Homestead Park in Woodbridge. The week's wet weather caused a change in date, time and location of the Vikings' first matchup of the year against the Bulldogs. Wednesday became Thursday; Hylton's grass field became Howison's artificial turf; and 7 p.m. was changed to 8:45. The result, however, was typical for Woodbridge as the Vikings improved to 6-0 in district play with a 4-0 win over the Bulldogs. 

"I wanna go home. It's bedtime," said senior Casey Burdette with a laugh after the game. Burdette was one of three Vikings to score, helping push Woodbridge's winning streak to six games and remain atop the Cardinal District standings with four games remaining.

"We knew that we had to beat [Hylton] at least once if we were going to win the district," said Woodbridge head coach Scott Kerns whose Vikings were scheduled to play Hylton on back-to-back days. "Playing them back-to-back, it was a little nerve-racking, knowing that you are playing somebody that quick on a turnaround. We definitely concerned about the game. Its a good win."

The Bulldogs entered Thursday and Friday's games nipping at the heals of the Vikings with a 5-1 record — leaving the possibility open that the Vikings could be knocked out of the top spot in the district in less than 24 hours. That possibility was taken off the table rather quickly with goals by junior Kristen Lybert and senior Autumn Ewald in the first half.

"The important thing for us is: Are we getting the opportunities? I think that we got a lot of opportunities that we didn't put away. That's important, that's good, we are getting the chances," said Kerns. "And the biggest thing is keeping other people out of the net, which we are very happy about."

Burdette's goal made the score 3-0 followed by Lybert's second goal of the night and 15th of the season. Senior Shondel Archer, freshman Shannon Archer and Burdette all chipped in with assists in the victory.

"With Kristen and Shondel up top, I don't know who you key on," said Kerns. "I wouldn't want to figure out how to defend them because Shondel is just lightening-fast and is hard to deal with and Kristen can just finish from anywhere. They're a pretty impressive duo up top for us."

Against district opponents this year, the Vikings have outscored the competition 28-5.

"Our goal since the begining of the year was to make sure that we win the district," said Kerns, whose team hasn't lost since April 1st. "That is always what we want to do because the biggest thing for us is getting that home game in the regionals."

Two-for-Two: On Friday afternoon, the Vikings matched their output from the night before, shutting out Hylton, 4-0, to improve to 7-0 in the district. Lybert added two more goals and an assist, and Brianna Cole and Shondel Archer each added a goal.

Email: pfrommelt@digitalsports.com

Woodbridge 4, C.D. Hylton 0
WOODBRIDGE (4) — Goals: Kristen Lybert (2), Autumn Ewald (1), Casey Burdette (1). Assists: Casey Burdette (1), Shondel Archer (1), Shannon Archer (1).

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