Following a tough and totally unexpected loss to their upstart county rivals, the GW Eagles had less than a week to regroup and jump back into district play. The Eagles of Franklin County were flying into town, and the boys in dark blue had to be ready to play or else they would suffer a third defeat in as many matches. Yet, as the opening whistle blew and the ball was placed into action, the hometown squad would be better prepared and demonstrate more focus, and this match would be off to a quick and decisive beginning.

Faster than a speeding bullet, the GW Eagles would advance within easy distance of the Franklin County goalie box, scoring with little time having expired from the scoreboard. Eventually GW would expand that lead to 2-0, before trading goals with the enemy Eagles. Yet when the final whistle blew, it would be the good guys that would prevail, tasting the sweet nectar of a first victory on the young season, a well-earned 4-2 defeat of Patrick County.

Juan Escobal, Jeff Gignac, Trevor Owen and Gil Messer would each net individual goals, while An-drew Pruett chipped in an assist, and Brandon Owen recorded 10 saves in the GW nets. Having broke the ice in the win column and evened their district mark, the team now prepared to face their Highway 29 county rivals, the Hargrave Tigers.

Despite returning to the field of play with less than twenty-four hours rest, the home-standing Eagles would be anything but tired for this late afternoon encounter. Trevor Owen would lead the scoring on-slaught recording a "Hat Trick", while adding to the tally would be single goals by Joe Bracey, An-drew Pruett and Jeff Gignac. Meanwhile, Gignac and Bracey would also contribute single assists, and goalkeeper Brandon Owen would turn away six of the seven Hargrave shots. The win would prove to be a strong offensive showing and encouraging with the balanced scoring involving four players.

The first of those challenges would come in the guise of a long Saturday bus ride to the Tidewater area, to face a powerhouse in Landstown High School. The Tidewater area has for a long time been a hotbed for Virginia Soccer, with multiple traveling clubs and considerably more resources than can be found around the Danville area. Also going in this match, Coach Dishman may have felt that his squad would be overmatched, yet at the same time recognizing that a team can only get better by playing bet-ter teams and learning in the process. This approach can lead to tough results, yet attention and expec-tation must be focused on improvement and development, not on wins and losses. Not unexpectantly the Eagles were shutdown in a 7-0 loss to a highly skilled group of players.

Three days following the "near beach" trip, the team would take a page from a Willie Nelson song, and load up the buses for their annual journey to the Hill City, and a fierce battle against E. C. Glass. Very similar to the way GW has dominated Hargrave over the years, Glass has owned the Eagles, es-pecially at City Stadium. As a matter of fact, GW has not won in Lynchburg since the district playoffs of 2000, when GW came away with a four overtime victory and advancement to regional play. That marked only the second time in Eagle Soccer history that a team had advanced that far, and remains a feat that has not been achieved since. History would once again prove to be unkind to the River City visitors, as the Hilltopper curse could not be broken, resulting in a 6-1 loss for the boys in blue. Mark Goodrich would garner the lone score on an assist from John Waggoner, while hard-pressed goalie Brian Owen would turn in nine saves.

Thus with the first half of the season complete, the guys headed into the lull of Spring Break with a 2-4 overall record, yet still very much alive in the district with a 1-2 mark. Among games of interest on the backside will be two matches against Halifax County, home encounters with Patrick Henry and Glass, plus trips to Franklin County and Tunstall. And despite the momentarily losing record, there is much more Soccer to be played, and along the way anything can and will usually happen!

JV Boys
The guys would have mixed success before they took on the long spring break that happens every year. In three matches, two on the friendly confines of Christopher Stadium and one on the road, the JV Boys would walk away with the threesome of a victory, a loss, and a tie.

As a prelude to the varsity's victory over Franklin County, the JV's would do one better by pitching a shutout, coming away with a hard fought 1-0 win. With a scoreless battle having ensued for nearly the entire evening, Jacob Russell and Drew Whitt would take matter into their own hands and break the ice of a scoreless affair with ten minutes remaining. Russell would slam the nets for the game winner and the only score on the evening, on an assist from the ever-alert Whitt. Meanwhile displaying strong goalie play, Reggie Fitzgerald would notch his second shutout in as many matches.

Hoping to build on that tight victory, the JV's would accompany the varsity on the annual bus ride to Lynchburg. The young Eagles would strike first in the opening stanza when midfielder Jacob Russell would out fight the Glass defenders and burn the nets for 1-0 lead. Yet, Glass would return the favor on a similar situation, knotting the affair at 1-1. The eventual game winner would come from a Glass corner kick that seemingly slipped its way thought the defenders before an alert Glass player struck the ball uncontested into the nets. While neither side could strike for additional goals, nonetheless the Ea-gles should be encouraged by their hard-fought effort and determination to fight to the end against their oversized opponents.

Finishing up the first half of the season, GW would play host to the JV Bulldogs from Martinsville be-fore taking on a welcome break. Once again the team would pull out to a 1-0 lead, as Drew Whitt would tickle the twine for GW's lone tally on the evening. Yet the Bulldogs would eventually bounce back tying the score at 1-1, and eventually sending the proceeding into two five minute extra periods. But in the final analysis, this would be a game of missed opportunities and one in which both defenses would be the victor over the offenses. Thus recognizing lost opportunities of what could have been, the JV Boys headed to the break with a 2-2-1 record, having missed chances for two additional wins.

JV Girls
The only recent news pertaining to the JV Girls was a 2-2 tie in Martinsville against the junior Lady Bulldogs. Victoria Bracey and Denise Fitzgerald both would tally individual goals for the team, while Noura Allen would provide strong goalie play while notching twelve saves throughout the proceed-ings.