The Annapolis Blues have spent the last two months stamping themselves as the National Premier Soccer League’s most dominant squad, and Saturday night served as their coronation.
Playing before 9,038 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, the second-largest crowd of a well-attended season, Annapolis routed Virginia Beach City FC, 5-1, behind two goals and an assist by Alex Abril. The Blues scored at least four goals for the third straight game and improved their record to 8-1.
Virginia Beach, looking up from the second-lowest spot in the standings at 1-8, gave its all on defense before succumbing to the relentless Annapolis attack. The Blues once again dominated time of possession, opening the floodgates as the night progressed with surgical passes through the back line and careful aim on their shots.
“Our patience was really good,” coach Colin Herriot said. “They’re all picking and choosing their moments to attack with tempo and numbers. And then, some of our goals, the quality, the finishing, was really good. We looked really dangerous tonight, we’re in control of the game.”
As usual, the Blues struck first with Mikey Revell delivering a bullet in the 12th minute. He scored from the doorstep after taking a pocket pass from Abril to finish a strong push from midfield.
That run-and-gun strategy endured as the lone scheme that seemed to work early against the quick-footed Virginia Beach defense, which initially seemed unwilling to concede a fifth straight loss.
The visitors mucked up the passing lanes and crowded the ball handlers, which directly led to their first goal since June 16. Virginia Beach forwards snuffed Annapolis’ Owen Allegro’s attempt at clearing the ball out from his own box and Josh Vincent scored from point blank range after the keeper went tumbling out of bounds in a desperate attempt to recover the ball.
Annapolis, undaunted by the rare retaliation, deferred back to one of their most reliable sources of offense. A few Blues sprinted ahead of the pack, leaving a clean window for Izzy Usta to thread the needle on a pass to Abril, who received the ball on the run then shot and scored in stride to give the Blues the lead for good just two minutes after they allowed the tying goal.
“That pass from Izzy was perfect,” Abril remarked. “I wasn’t actually expecting it to be that perfect, but when it comes to me and it’s literally on my foot, I’m able to score.”
The Blues characteristically opened the second half in the driver’s seat, and only built upon their advantage. Luke Dunne opened the second half by pulling up from 100 feet out and sending a rocket through the net with “a bit of magic,” as Herriot said afterward, followed closely by another Abril goal in the 51st minute to make it 4-1.
Abril said the ability of the Blues to score in a variety of ways and impose their gameplan as frustrated opponents.
“The majority of our goals come [in the second half] and that’s for a reason,” Abril said. “We’re set up to keep possession the entire game, and eventually that’s gonna break teams down. All of us can break down a defense when it’s stretched.”
The Blues coasted their way to their eighth victory in nine games, capped off nicely when Virginia Beach’s Noa Denno accidentally pocketed an own goal in the 63th to set the final score.
Despite having clinched the division, the Blues are still focused on training this week in preparation for next Saturday’s regular season finale against Grove Soccer United.
“What we’ve said for the last two years was ‘process and performance.’ Tonight was the performance, and Tuesday will be the process,” Herriot said. “We don’t look two games ahead, three games ahead. We focus on what’s in front of us, and Tuesday we’ll focus on having the best session we’ve had all year.”