FARMVILLE – To look at the halftime score, it would've been hard to foreshadow that Prince Edward's victory over Cumberland High School would be 8-0, and the match would be stopped in the 66th minute.

At intermission, the Eagles were only up 1-0 on their non-district rivals, but the hosts definitely got a wake-up call.

“I think it was more of what was said at halftime than any adjustments we made,” said PECHS head coach Sebastian Chirila. “I think we came into the game a little too loose, and sometimes, young teams will play too confident. We won 6-1 over there a few weeks ago, and I think our guys thought they could get away with sloppy play. Cumberland came ready to play, and really challenged us in that first half.”

“We looked like soccer players in that first half,” said CHS head coach Heather Sutton. “We are more of a team of athletes, and we're learning the game of soccer. After the break, [Prince Edward's] experience showed, and I think we got worn down. We played three games this week, and once they got on top, the fatigue we didn't show in the first half started to play a role, it was cold, and things compounded one on top of the other. It's one of those things we've got to learn to play through, but it's easier said than done.”

Prince Edward went up 1-0 in the 17th minute when freshman Nikolos Reinson found junior John Copeland on a cross pass in the box, and Copeland tapped the ball into the goal from a few yards out.

CHS goalie Glen Patterson kept the Eagles out of the net for the remainder of the half, but the Eagles woke up after the intermission.

PE sophomore Bryce Deitrich scored his first goal in the 42nd minute, and classmate Kyle Burns put the Eagles up 3-0 just five minutes later on a deflection.

The two would almost take turns scoring goals for the remainder of the match. By the time the game was called, Dietrich would have four goals, and Burns would have a hat trick.

Though the results were different, both teams received parts of the same message following the contest. The biggest challenge for both PE and Cumberland is to play at a high level from the opening kick to the final three whistles.

“We've got to play better first halves and compete like that for the entire 80 minutes,” said Chirila. “We did that tonight, and we were lucky to be ahead. We did the same thing against Park View a few weeks ago, and we were quickly down a couple of goals. By the time we started to play well, Park View was up comfortably.”

“Considering where we came from, there are areas where I like what I see, but we have a long way to go,” said Sutton. “Many of these guys are wrestlers and football players. They're good athletes, but it's their first or second year playing soccer. When we run up against teams that have been playing together for a long time, either on their high school teams or on travel teams, we're going to have to find a way to compete for an entire game. Tonight, we were able to compete in the first half. Now, we have to find a way to do that for an entire game.”

Cumberland will host defending JRD champion Goochland on Monday, April 8, and Prince Edward will return from break to face Brunswick on Monday, April 8 in Lawrenceville.