By Sports editor Brian Hoffman
The William Byrd girls will host Staunton River at 6 pm Friday night at Vinton’s Patterson Stadium in the first round of the four-team Blue Ridge District soccer tournament. The girls are the second seed behind Lord Botetourt.
LB, who is undefeated in district play, will host Northside in the other semifinal game Friday. The two winners will play at noon Saturday at Franklin County High School for the Blue Ridge District championship.
Byrd finished the regular season on a high note. The Terriers shut out their last two opponents to finish 6-3-1 in the district and 11-4-1 overall.
Last Friday in the rain the girls took a 9-0 win over visiting William Fleming at Patterson Stadium. Byrd scored six goals in the first half to build a big lead and never looked back. Anna Milliron and Maddy Simmons had two goals each and scoring one each were Claire Glover, Riley Firebaugh, Yulissa Bonilla-Gaucheta, Ella Ashworth and Martina Mihelcic. The game was called 20 minutes early due to the slaughter rule.
On Monday at home the girls played host to Franklin County and closed out the regular season with a 4-0 win. It was senior night and Byrd’s four seniors were honored before the game, Firebaugh, Milliron, Bonilla-Baucheta and Hannah Sutton.
Once the game started Simmons took over with a three goal hat trick. She got the Terriers on the board first 16 minutes into the game off an assist from Glover. Addisyn St. Clair put Byrd up 2-0 at the half off an assist from Milliron just three minutes before intermission, and Simmons hit the net twice more in the second half, both assisted by St. Clair.
The Region 3D tournament will begin next week and Byrd looks to be the third seed. That would give the Terriers a first round bye followed by a home game on Memorial Day.
