FPD dominates for 9-0 win over George Walton to open playoff run

Time off is great when you’re an adult, or a teenager amid a flurry of activities and academic workouts.

When you’re trying to stay sharp athletically, especially with the playoffs beckoning, time off isn’t all that attractive.

The FPD Vikings sure didn’t look like they had been off the pitch since April 30.

The fourth-seeded Vikings were in control by the water break midway through the first half and cruised to a 9-0 win Friday over No. 5 George Walton in a second-round GIAA Class AAAA girls soccer battle.

The Vikings improved to 17-1 while George Walton’s season ended at 13-5-1 after its most lopsided loss of the season. FPD visits top seed St. Anne-Pacelli, 14-2-1 after a 4-0 win over Bulloch.

Time off and suddenly some early-summer-like heat and humidity made for some unpredictability.

“The last two weeks, we have cranked up the fitness of practice,” FPD head coach Seth Berkebile said. “Two-hour practices instead of an hour and half, to get ready for this. We knew it was going to be like this, so (we were) getting ready for the heat and all that.”

At times throughout the early minutes, a few Vikings indicated they could use some water. They didn’t play like they were worn down, while wearing down the Bulldogs.

Sophomore Bowen Matthews had another big day, with six goals and an assist in only a half of action.

Elcee Leslein added a pair of goals and two assists, with Katelynn Jackson scoring once and assisting twice.

Berkebile was anxious to see how the Vikings would start, since hot starts have not been common this year.

“I was a little nervous,” Berkebile said. “One of the things that we’ve been working on the last couple games is we’ve started slow the first 10 to 15 minutes, and we’re not focused. This time, we only started slow for about three minutes.”

And he was happy with the early performance.

“We reduced that a little bit,” Berkebile said. “We’re turning in the right direction.”

While Matthews led the scoring, Berkebile saw plenty of other positives, especially on defense.

“The way that Katelynn and Elcee and Sophia (Wrabel) worked together in the midfield …” he said. “We made an adjustment after that water break, went back to a 4-5-1, to defend a little bit, give us a little bit more connection in the midfield so I think those three worked really well in the midfield.”

He was happy as well with Lainey Jones on the outside, among others.

Matthews took a long pass from Bella Fritz and punched in FPD’s first goal seven minutes into the action.

Seven minutes later, Jackson found Matthews, who took advantage of George Walton’s keeper taking her time to come out and cover for an easy goal.

Then only three minutes later, Matthew won another matchup at the net for a 3-0 lead.

Matthews almost had her feet taken out by the ball a little more than four minutes later, but regained her balance after the pass from Leslein for a 4-0 lead.

A real flurry followed with five goals in eight minutes, including two in a 42-second span.

The final goal came with 1:39 left, an abbreviated second half already having been clinched. The Vikings cleared the bench in the 20-minute second half. Berkebile estimated that 15 of 17 players played.

“After being off for so long, coming out and playing like that, I was really pleased with the way we played,” Berkebile said. “I can see the things that we’ve just added in practice the last two weeks playing out in what we did. They executed the new stuff pretty good.”