Lansdowne, VA (May 3, 2019) - It really doesn't get any better than this. It just doesn't.
When the Dominion Titans arrived at the home stadium of the Riverside Rams, they were on a twelve game winning streak and 5-0 in the Dulles District. Formidable, right? Well, not if you consider that the Rams were on an eleven game streak and 4-0 in the district. In other words, the only thing separating the two teams was that Dominion had played one more game this season.
The winner, of course, would hold the top spot with just a game or two left to play in the regular season.
Chas Sumser Photography was there to capture the action and emotion and posted a gallery of images from the game.
Surprisingly, Dominion completely dominated the first ten minutes of play. Behind three early goals from Tierney Schaible, the Titans controlled possession and ran a methodical, opportunistic offense to burst out to a four goal lead. It was 5-1 in the 10th minute and they maintained that margin right up to the 23rd minute of the first half.
But that's when things started to change...
Behind late goals from Keke Keyser and Tatum Broyhill, the Rams finally found a way to bring the margin down to a manageable two goals, 11-9. As the halftime horn blew, the momentum was in Riverside's favor even though the Titans had held the lead for virtually the entire half.
The Rams' Sydney Ash scored just moments into the second half, and the Titans were on their heels. To their credit, however, they fought back hard. Riverside would tie the score in the 37th minute, but Dominion would go ahead again in the 38th.
The game turned with eight minutes to go. With the score tied at 14-14, Dominion's outstanding attacker, Mya Brock, went down with an injury and was lost for the remainder of the game. When play resumed, Bryn McCaughey gave the Rams the lead for the first time. Using a slow-down game of precise possession, they used up the remaining time and went on to win the match.
Although Riverside has two more games to play, they now control their playoff destiny. Win them both and they have the top seed in the tournament. Even if they lose one, their head-to-head victory tonight will likely break a standings tie between these two teams.
Final Score: Riverside 16 - Dominion 0
