By Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
The Auburn High School girls’ soccer team brought home this year’s Class 1 state title, but along the way, they fell in the regional championship to a spunky Eastern Montgomery team. For their effort, both squad’s head coaches are this year’s All-county/all-city girls’ soccer team co-coaches of the year.
Ashley Moreno led Auburn to a 18-2 mark, while Whitney Shaver brought a regional trophy home to Elliston in just her first year at the helm at Eastern Montgomery.
Moreno was named the state’s Class 1 coach of the year.
The all-county/all-city player of the year is Radford’s Madison Page, who set a new school record this past season. Page has 135 for her high school career and will hang up her cleats next season when she attends Radford University.
“It is very rewarding because of all the hard work I have put in to have been able to achieve this record,” she said recently.
Page was also named to the Class 2 all-state first team.
The 2019 goalie of the year award is shared between two River Ridge players. Kinsey Verbrugge led Blacksburg to another outstanding season, while Maddie Wright was steady in goal in Christiansburg.
Verbrugge, a junior, has spent three years in goal for the Bruins and has put together 45 shutouts in three seasons with 126 saves. This past year she was part of a defense that only allowed four goals in 18 games. The stretch included keeping every River Ridge District team scoreless at least once.
Wright had 72 saves this season with eight shutouts of her own. Her speed allowed her to cover a lot of the box and had some saves in big moments. Her coach, Scott Duff, said she was a consistent steady presence in goal who kept the Blue Demons in every game this season.
Radford’s Rachel Tuosto and Makenzie Page was also named to all-state Class 2 team and were honored as All-county/all-city. Tuosto was recently named to the all-state first team, while Makenzie was named to the second team.
Blacksburg had three other players named to this year’s all-county/all-city team. They were Skyler Prosser, Eva Moeltner and Mari Gaza.
Prosser is a repeat honoree and also received this year’s River Ridge District player of year award. The junior had compiled 27 goals in three years of varsity play. Coach Travis Eschenmann said she was the top threat in the area as every team was aware of her wherever she was on the field. “She was a target on all set plays and leading goal scorer,” he said.
The Midfielder Prosser was first-team all-district and first-team all-region. She finished with 11 goals and three assists this season. In addition, she was the only player to score game winners against four district opponents.
Moeltner, who is also a junior midfielder, was all-district first-team this year and second team all-region. She had seven goals this season with two assists.
Garza is one the youngsters on this year’s all-county/all-city squad. The sophomore has spent two years on the varsity roster and was a big part of the stingy Blacksburg defense which had 14 shutouts in 18 games and only allowed four goals. Eschenmann said she has the ability to transition into the attack when needed and is a versatile player that can start in a variety of positions.
Lohrmann plans to play two sports next season at Hollins University in Roanoke including soccer and basketball. She transferred this past season from Hidden Valley to Auburn.
She was joined on the all-county/all-city team by teammate Jessica Musselman. Both were named to the all-state Class 1 first team.
Christiansburg’s Carly Walden is also a member of our 2019 all-county/all-city team. She will play this coming season at Emory and Henry College and was all first-team all-River Ridge and all-region 3D.
Walden was a four-year starter for the Blue Demons and played every minute this past season.
Her coach, Scott Duff, called her a very smart soccer player with a great understanding of back-line play that was a fierce competitor with great athleticism, physicality and speed with a well-rounded skill set.
Eastern Montgomery had two payers named to the list. They included: Ellie Underwood and Sarah Weatherspoon. Both were also named to the all-state girls’ team. Underwood, who only a sophomore, was named the Pioneer District player of the year and scored 25 goals this season with 21 assists.
Weatherspoon, who is also only a sophomore, provides a strong future for the Eastern Montgomery program. She scored 27 goals this past season with 22 assists.