varsity.roanoke.com

Third-seeded Salem defeated second-seeded Blacksburg 3-0 in the first semifinal game of the River Ridge District girls soccer tournament.

Wednesday's nightcap featured Roanoke County rivals Hidden Valley and Cave Spring, and the Titans used their speed advantage to race past the Knights 5-2 at Bogle Stadium.

Salem (14-2-2) got a goal and an assist from Kim Elmore to lead its attack, as the Spartans capitalized on Blacksburg's near misses to move into the championship game on Friday against Hidden Valley (15-1-1), which got a goal and two assists from Clemson signee Maddy Elder in its semifinal.

"When they got close to the goal, it made us mad," Elmore said. "We didn't like it and we wanted them out of our house.

"But I'm so excited right now and really happy for the team. We really wanted it tonight."

Blacksburg (12-3-2) started the first game strong, earning a corner kick in the first five minutes. The Spartans kept that ball out of the net and buckled down defensively despite Blacksburg having control of the ball for most of the half.

With less than a minute remaining in the first, Salem struck. After a Bruin chance went awry, the Spartans pushed the ball down the left side of the field to earn their only corner kick of the half.

Megan Kennedy serviced the ball into the center of the defense, where Emily Caldwell was there to deflect it into the net. It was the first time the Spartans had scored in three games against the Bruins, giving them a one-goal lead at the break.

The Bruins' leading scorer this year, Rebecca Cornelius, rocketed a shot off the post in the 46th minute. Salem swiftly fired back, scoring seconds later when Elmore gathered up a misplay by the Bruins' defense and walked it into the goal.

Two minutes later, the Bruins suffered a tough break when Cornelius went down with an ankle injury and was unable to return.

"Anytime you lose your leading scorer, it is difficult," Blacksburg coach Travis Eschenmann said. "But overall as a team, we need to do a little better job of preparing ourselves for the big game."

Clarie Sexton later scored to make it 3-0.

"I thought the girls worked really hard, and I thought we played well," Salem coach Josh Jones said. "We played our game for the full 80 minutes."

The Titans jumped on Cave Spring (9-9) early, as sophomore Paxton Sauerwald netted two goals in the first 18 minutes. The Knights cut the lead to one at the break on a goal from Loretto Alarcon.

Three straight goals in the first 24 minutes of the second half allowed Hidden Valley to build a 5-1 lead. Regan Dayberry, Claire Sibley and Elder tallied before Cave Spring made the final margin three on a free kick from Jennifer Wade.

"The last two weeks we have been really clicking," Titans first-year coach Will Krause said. "I feel like we are really peaking, which is what we want going into the district tournament and region."

Cave Spring will play Blacksburg in the first contest Friday for the district's third regional berth.

"The good thing is this game has given us an opportunity to play again Friday to continue our season," Cave Spring coach Esteban Martinez said. "Hopefully our nine seniors will take advantage of it."