TD Knights suffered the first loss of the season to the Hopewell Blue Devils just before district playoffs.

The Hopewell Blue Devils showed the Thomas Dale boys last week that they are a soccer team to be reckoned with, at least on their home turf.  Although the Knights had already beaten them last month by a score of 8-0, the Blue Devils played with a dogged tenacity that seemed to disrupt Thomas Dale’s style of play and forced them to give up two goals in their last match of the regular season.  That’s almost as many as the Knights had allowed in all 14 of their previous games combined, and enough to give Hopewell the 2-1 victory and the Knights their only loss this season.

Prior to this match, Thomas Dale was the only undefeated team, with a perfect 15-0-0 record this year, not only in the Central District, but in the entire Central Region of Virginia’s High School League.  And who can remember the last time that the Knights lost a soccer match to another team in the Central District?  Maybe not in this millennium.

So, despite Hopewell’s fourth place finish in the district standings, and the fact that Thomas Dale was temporarily playing without at least one of their top players, the Blue Devils still had good reason to celebrate their victory.  And for the Knights it will likely serve as a reminder that they must stay on their toes during this week’s playoff matches in the Central District tournament being held at Thomas Dale, where they were expected to meet Hopewell again in the first round on Tuesday.  With Matoaca facing Colonial Heights in the other district semifinal, the winners of these two matches will meet in the district championship at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 22, at Thomas Dale.

Meanwhile, Thomas Dale’s lady Knights achieved what the boys could not, by finishing their season with a perfect record.  The lady nights are also favored to reach the district championship to be played at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Thomas Dale has won the District championship for quite a few years now, including, of course, 2005 and 2006, when the boys became state champions.

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