The William Byrd boys’ soccer team dropped a home-and-home series with Northside in the past week. Byrd lost at home last Friday, 7-4, then was shut out by the Vikings at Northside, 6-0 on Tuesday.

Luke Johnston had a three-goal hat trick in Friday’s loss and assisted Nathan Patrick on the first goal of the game as Byrd took an early 1-0 lead. It was Patrick’s third goal in just his second varsity game.

Northside answered with two goals, but Johnston scored just before the half to tie the game at 2-2 at intermission.

“We were playing pretty well,” said Byrd coach Matthew Guilliams. “The goals we gave away were sloppy, but all in all we were tied with 40 minutes to go.”

Northside scored two goals early in the second half for a 4-2 lead but Johnston cut the lead to one at 4-3. Northside finished strong, outscoring Byrd 3-1 down the stretch with Johnston getting his third goal of the game. Spike Purcell got his first start in goal and had seven saves.

On Tuesday it was all Northside as Byrd dropped to 1-4 in the Blue Ridge District and 2-9 overall. The Terriers had Christiansburg on Wednesday and Fort Defiance will be here on Friday.