The Northern Virginia Royals and Virginia Legacy battled to a 2-2 draw after 90 minutes as pending storms narrowly missed the Williamsburg area. A brace of Legacy forward Nathan Belcher goals sandwiched between strikes from Royals AJ Sheta and Ben Kamara were the highlights of a match, earning each team a point.

Early moments of the game seemed to indicate strict officiating, as the referee saw fit to book Leroy Oligie on what seemed an innocuous challenge. That changed rapidly, as any further challenges in the half from either side, regardless of severity, were allowed by the center official.

As the half wore on, frustrations grew quickly and a member of the Royal’s coaching staff was dismissed from the sideline for airing his view on the current officiating.   Tensions continued to mount and grow when Royal forward Dave Atkinson had seemingly earned a penalty after being hauled down in the Legacy area.   The referee saw things differently and continued play, ending the half scoreless.

The second half started and AJ Sheta surprised the home crowd by collecting a Irad Young flick on to bury the ball past the keeper and give the visitors an early 1-0 lead.

Then came the Belcher show as the tall number 9 took over for the home team, and was able to turn in a couple of crosses to turn the game round for the Legacy. The 2-1 lead seemed destined to be enough for the Legacy as a second yellow was issued to Oligie and he was sent from the field.

The Royals pressed forward in search of an equalizer, and were rewarded as a free kick into the box was headed forward by Matt Brady to un-rushing Ben Kamara. Kamara struck true and slammed the ball home for the leveler.

Both sides chased the win, but the Royals seemed to have the best chance late on. Northern Virginia’s Brady broke into Legacy territory to find himself with a clean lane to the goal, but his shot was smothered by the keeper.

At the final whistle both sets of players knew they had done their best to provide the Legacy crowd with an exciting game.

 

The Royals return home Saturday night as they face the New Hampshire Phantoms. Match time is set for 7:00PM at Fairfax High School.