In their 3rd game of the week, which started with a back-to-back vs. Liberty & Kettle Run, to start the season- the Falcons came out strong thank to some much needed help from from some fresh legs. The starting line up was shaken up to include Sophomores Ryan Afshari, Omar Lemus, & Nick Pastorelli, Junior Kheyri Hughes, & Seniors Miguel Cortes & Francisco Uribe - to go along with Juniors Enrique Mejia, Jared Trussell, Tyler Ifft, Sophomore Frankie Strano, & Freshman Xavier Barreda. “We had a conversation yesterday as a team- and I explained to them the decision to shake things up. To be a good team, we need to have different players who can carry the load at different times, thats what makes a good team dangerous. We knew going in, we were going to need all 19 players with the type of schedule we had. I have all the confidence in the world in these guys, and I was excited to see them get some extended minutes. We had a couple of guys play a lot of minutes over the course of the first two games, so it was nice to be able to get them some rest and see some other players who have been working hard for the last month come in and have a big impact like they did tonight.

The midfield combination of Ryan, Miggy, Frankie, Kheyri, and Francisco were able help dominate possession and dictate tempo over the course of the first half with the Falcons connecting on just over 100 passes in the first 40 minutes. Fauquier was able to create 5 early chances but couldn’t put it in the back of the net. However the deadlock was broken with 6 minutes left in the 1st half when Mejia was able to dance around 3 defenders and slot one in the lower right hand corner for an early Falcons lead. Brentsville was able to respond just 2 minutes when they scored off a corner kick, and the game was 1-1 at the half.  “A lot of the credit for the way we dominated that first half goes to Ryan & Omar. They gave us a spark on the wings and Ryan was able to successfully go 1v1 multiple times on that left side of the field and help create plenty of chances for us."

The second half did not start the way Fauquier wanted, conceding possession for most of the first 8 minutes and Brentsville going up 2-1 on a 30 yard strike that beat Iff’s outstretched hand and caught the Falcons off guard. Fauquier kept battling and were able to create 7 more scoring chances before Mejia found the back of the net again half way through the second half. 

The turning point in the game happened with around 7 minutes left in the game, a stoppage in play allowed the Falcons to huddle up on the field- with a third straight game seemingly headed to Overtime, the group rallied together and vowed to finish the game on a strong note. Three minutes later, Duca was able to connect with Mejia - who promptly drew the attention of 3 Tigers defenders, and after turning upfield, was able to play a through ball to Matt Page on the left side who quickly beat the lone defender left and was able to beat the goalie 1v1 and calmly place the ball in the lower right hand corner to secure the win with 4 minutes left in the game. 

The win capped off what was a tremendous week of soccer for the Falcons, one which saw them secure a Tie vs Liberty in OT in dramatic fashion on Tuesday, and take the defending State Champion Cougars into OT as well before falling 3-2 in the final 2 minutes. Fauquier is now 1-1-1, and start another week of 3 games in 4 nights on Tuesday with another game vs Kettle Run, this time on the road.