The old adage goes, ‘The best defense is a good offense.’ Such could easily be the campaign slogan for this year’s Goochland boys’ soccer team (16-1). The Bulldogs were anything but cordial hosts when they took on Appomattox County in Monday’s Region B quarterfinal. The Goochland offense was quick, relentless and simply demoralizing to the Appomattox, running away with a 13-1 victory.

  For onlookers it was difficult to evaluate the Bulldogs’ defensive abilities because it appeared that they never came out of their offensive attack. “The attitude is, put them on defense,” said Goochland head coach Ron Spessard. “Make them stop us. We’re never thinking of stopping them. We’re thinking of recapture the ball, get it up field, push up and attack.

  “Never think defensively,” Spessard added. “The best defense is your offense. So I feel that my midfielders and my forwards, we attack. We move the ball down field. We passed to everyone. We get the ball to the open area and get the ball to the open man. The defense’s job is win it and get it back up field and attack and push up all the way to midfield if necessary. So far that’s served us well.”

  On offense, no player served Goochland more than James River District Player of the Year, senior Bryan Henley. Henley was virtually unstoppable scoring seven times and left Raiders’ keeper James Hudson gasping for breath.

  Henley scored the Bulldogs’ first goal less than three minutes into the contest and from there the rout was on. “Once we got up we just kept pushing harder,” Henley said. “Once we got the lead I think they got down on themselves.”

  Three minutes later it was Henley scoring again, this time taking a Tyler Woods corner kick and sending a header through a crowd of defenders and into the goal. It took five minutes more for Henley to add his third on a solo slam past Hudson.

  Only one minute passed before Goochland added to their lead. This time is was Henley dishing out an assist to Luke Gall.

  Appomattox finally got on the board when Neil Thomas slipped a shot in from the left side but it only took 30 seconds for Goochland to answer when Henley scored his fourth goal of the evening. 

  Then in the 29th minute of play, Henley brought the Goochland fans to their feet. Attacking from the right side of goal, Henley faked a shot that caused Hudson to dive in that direction. Henley then easily moved the ball to the left and scored on the defenseless goal.

  Henley scored his sixth and final goal of the first half curling in a penalty kick directly through the hands of Hudson.

  Henley’s final score of the evening came seven minutes into the second period.

  “Sometimes an athlete just feels it,” Spessard said. “He passed constantly but when he saw it he simply took the shot. Bryan has great field vision, just great skills. He doesn’t just see this play or that play, he looks down field and he sees the whole thing just like a chess board and he starts directing people and puts it in motion.”

  The speedy Woods added three goals for the Bulldogs while senior teammate Luke Gall scored twice. Sophomore Ben Barnes added the final score of the game.
  “I think our offense is really strong especially when we’re working the ball around and working together,” Henley said. “If we work together on offense I think we’re pretty much unstoppable.”

  On person who could not argue the statement was Raiders’ coach Travis O’Brien. “Goochland was a very technically sound team,” he said. “One of the better teams that we’ve seen this year and we played a bunch of AA schools at the beginning of the season.”

  With the team rolling on, Spessard could not be happier. “This is the best group I’ve ever coached,” he said. “This is a coach’s dream. Academically they’re the best. Behavior-ly they’re the best and skill-wise they’re the best.”

  On Wednesday, Goochland traveled to Stonewall Jackson. With a win, the Bulldogs will return home to play the Region B championship on Friday evening.

Appomattox….............................1 0 — 1
Goochland…............................... 8 5 — 13
Saves: Hudson (A) 7; Eby (G) 5.