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BERRYVILLE — A year ago, the Clarke County girls’ soccer team’s state title defense ended with a stunning 2-1 loss at Poquoson in the Class 2 state quarterfinals.
On Tuesday, the two teams met for the first time since in the state quarterfinals at Wilbur M. Feltner Stadium. The Eagles did not waste any time showing how hungry they are to regain their perch atop the state.
Clarke County junior midfielder Madison Toone recorded a hat trick in the first 15 minutes as part of a five-goal, one-assist performance, and the Eagles held Poquoson without a shot for more than 30 minutes at the outset in a 6-1 win.
The Region 2B champion Eagles (22-0) — who led 4-0 at the half — will now take on defending Class 2 champion Glenvar in the state semifinals at 9 a.m. on Friday at Roanoke College. The Region 2C runner-up Highlanders defeated Region 4D champion Graham 4-2 in their quarterfinal on Tuesday.
Clarke County first-year head coach Ray Hawkins said his players were immediately excited when it was announced after Friday’s Region 2B championship win over Central that Poquoson would be the team coming to Berryville for the state quarters.
“We definitely wanted to be strong in this one to beat them because we traveled down there and had a loss,” said First Team All-Region 2B midfielder and senior Audrey Price. “We were definitely really confident in ourselves this year to beat them.”
Poquoson is now 7-10-2 after Friday’s loss, but the Islanders’ record is always deceiving. The Islanders compete in the 10-team Bay Rivers District, which features eight Class 4 and Class 3 schools. And Poquoson brought back nine starters — including all three of its All-State players — from the team that beat the Eagles last year.
Of course, last year’s Poquoson team didn’t have to deal with Toone, the Region 2B Player of the Year who didn’t play for Clarke County in 2022 at all due to an injury. Toone’s been spectacular all year with 50 goals coming into Tuesday, and she was simply dominant against Poquoson in her first state tournament game since she helped the Eagles beat the Islanders in the 2021 state semifinals.
“Madison took it to a whole other level today,” Hawkins said. “She’s always focused and determined, but she was extra focused and determined today, if that’s possible. The whole team was ready for this from the get-go.”
Toone’s play in the opening 15 minutes was reminiscent of the three goals she scored in the final 12 minutes to help Clarke County rally from a 3-1 deficit to a 4-3 win over Mountain View in the 2021 Region 2B championship game, a season in which only regional champions advanced to the state tournament.
“I prefer these [pressure] games, a lot,” Toone said.
After collecting a ball in the middle of the field while moving forward, Toone took a couple of touches into the box and fired the ball in to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.
“I think that [goal fired] us up more,” Toone said. “That’s why we had the majority of possession in the first half, and had the majority of our goals in the first half.”
Toone blasted in a shot from 25 yards out three minutes later to make it 2-0, then ripped in a shot from the top of the 18 in the middle of the field to make it 3-0 in the 15th minute. In the 28th minute, Toone would then pass ahead to Kelsey Elrod, who pushed the ball ahead and finished from about 15 yards out to make it 4-0.
Thanks to some excellent play in goal from the Islanders’ Sydney McCarthy (13 saves) and Poquoson’s ability to keep its back line unified so that Clarke County was repeatedly flagged for offside violations, the Islanders held the Eagles off the scoreboard most of the second half and cut their deficit to 4-1 on Quinn Sparkman’s shot from 25 yards out in the 49th minute.
But Toone helped put Poquoson away with two goals a minute apart in the 69th and 70th minutes. After taking a pass from her twin sister Summer inside the 18 with her back to the goal, she stepped on the ball, rolled it toward the goal with the bottom of her foot, spun on her defender to the left and shot the ball in. She then beat McCarthy to a 50-50 ball and put the ball in an open net to make it 6-1.
The Eagles finished with a 26-5 shot advantage, with Avery Shinabery making three saves for Clarke County.
“I know the goals favor Madison, but it was a solid team effort,” Hawkins said.
A year ago, many members of the Clarke County girls’ team made the trip to Spartan Field in Salem to watch the boys’ team win the state championship. Now, the girls will get to make the trip to Roanoke College in Salem as participants instead of spectators for the Virginia High School League Class 2 Spring Jubilee.
“It’s going to be fun to play together and see each other play,” Price said. “Hopefully, we can both win.”
