SALEM, Va. – For the fifth consecutive season, the Glenvar girls soccer team is headed to the state semifinals.
The Highlanders have become one of Virginia’s most consistent postseason programs, capturing state championships in 2022 and 2024 while continuing to make deep playoff runs. Now, Glenvar is one victory away from another appearance in the state title game.
Despite featuring a roster led primarily by sophomores and juniors, the Highlanders have navigated a challenging season that included key tests against top competition. Glenvar suffered a regular-season loss to Cave Spring and most recently fell to Nelson County in the Region 2C championship match last week.
Rather than dwelling on the region title defeat, the Highlanders used it as motivation entering the state tournament. The response paid off with a victory in the state quarterfinals, extending Glenvar’s season and setting up another semifinal appearance.
“We have to start out strong from the beginning every game and we have to stay together,” said Highlanders junior midfielder Sawyer Wilson. “We can’t get mad at each other and we have to keep fighting.”'
“I feel like after like even during the game like I feel like we kind of just like stopped or didn’t try as hard,” said Highlanders goalkeeper Maddie Frackelton. “We were trying obviously but we didn’t have that heart.”
“Watching our girls overcome that and kind of have that feeling of ‘all right let’s go, let’s figure this out and let’s get back to it’ and watching their mindset and how much they’ve jelled over the loss was huge,” said Glenvar head coach Kyleigh Drew.
The Highlanders are also looking to erase the memory of last season’s state semifinal loss, which ended their bid for a repeat championship.
Glenvar will face Central Woodstock in the Class 2 state semifinals at 11 a.m. Friday at Spartan Field. A win would send the Highlanders to the state championship match for the third time in four seasons.
On the other side of Class 2, the Region 2C champion Nelson County will take on perennial power Clarke County.
The undefeated Glenvar boys program will be making their sixth consecutive state semifinals appearance. It’s a run that’s included three consecutive Class 2 state championship wins as well (2024,