Bulldogs Falter Without Murnane

Westfield senior Sean Murnane stood on the sideline as his teammates warmed up before yesterday's Virginia AAA boys' soccer state semifinal against Cox.

Murnane, the All-Met player of the Year, limped over to the group just as the starters lined up to be introduced. It was one of the few times in his illustrious career he has missed a start.

"This is torture man, torture," said Murnane, a University of Virginia-bound forward who has scored more than 20 of Westfield's 60 goals this season.

With Murnane out with a swollen right knee, Westfield (16-4) rode All-Met senior Irvin Herrera, a skilled attacker who pushed the tempo early to earn Westfield three first-half corner kicks, but the early spurt didn't last long without Murnane's ability to direct traffic and organize the field.

"I knew that I wasn't able to give the ball to someone and then get it back," Herrera said. "Not that we don't have other players, but I like to play a lot of combinations with Sean. We needed him tonight. We really missed him a lot."

Cox powered back on goals from Hunter Byrnes, Paul Braunstein and two from Will Martin to take a 4-0 victory and berth in today's state final.

Today's final, at 4 p.m. at Westfield, will pit the Falcons (20-2-1) against Mills Godwin (17-1-2), which got goals from Brian Clark and Valeriy Sviderskiy in a 2-0 victory over Hickory in last night's other semifinal.

It will be just the second time in the tournament's 28 year history that the final will not feature at least one team from Northern Virginia.

Cox took a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute when Byrnes buried a left-side cross from Martin, a senior who finished with two goals and two assists.

Byrnes' goal started an aggressive outpour from the Falcons, who then peppered the goal and outshot Westfield 13-8 by halftime and 23-17 for the game.

Cox built a 2-0 lead on a 37th minute connection from Martin to Braunstein and a 3-0 lead on Martin's clean-up of teammate Matt Zackary's shot off the keeper. Martin scored again in the 77th minute.

The Bulldogs picked their moments with Herrera, but struggled to maintain possession and was forced to play on its heels as it tried to handle Cox's constant pressure and was unable to power through the Falcons' backline of Neil Harrison, Ryan Byrnes and Trey Saunders.

Westfield ended the season winning four of its last six and reached the state semifinal despite losing in the district semifinals and region finals.

"I know everyone is disappointed right now, but we brought in seven or eight new starters this year after we lost 16 seniors last year," Westfield Coach Tom Torres told his huddle of players.

Cox 4, No. 2 Westfield 0 Seeing a Ghost: In the 15th minute, Westfield junior Ryan Krum checked into the game wearing Westfield senior Sean Murnane's No. 10 jersey and was announced as Murnane. Record-Breakers: Cox, which broke the school record for wins with 20 last night, will play in its fourth state final. The Falcons played in the final in 1990, 1994 and 1997, winning it last in 1990.