As fans froze in near-zero degree weather at the AFC football playoffs in Denver, people in Lynchburg enjoyed shirt-sleeve weather on Saturday. The parks and bike trails were packed with those out enjoying the 70-plus temperatures.
The weather was great for players and fans at the Lynchburg College Soccer Showcase. The weekend event is being held in three locations: Shellenberger Field at Lynchburg College and on the turf fields at E.C. Glass and Heritage High Schools.
There are 68 teams and about 700 high school soccer players competing at the event including many local teams from Central Virginia as well as club teams from around Virginia and out of state teams. Some schools and clubs have more than one team playing, including E.C. Glass, Jefferson Forest and many of the soccer clubs.
Lynchburg College is a perennial force to be reckoned with in men's college soccer with over a dozen ODAC championships and appearances in the NCAA tournament. In 2010, the LC Hornets made it to the title game in the NCAA Division III Tournament, losing in sudden-death overtime to top-ranked Messiah.
The Lynchburg College Soccer Showcase is high school soccer at its finest. Coaches from about 30 Virginia and North Carolina colleges watch from the sidelines, taking notes for future recruiting.
This year's event is the largest in the history of the Lynchburg College Soccer Showcase. Fields are split into two smaller playing fields to allow enough capacity for each team to play three games over the weekend.
The games began at all three locations at 9 a.m. on Saturday and ended at 11 p.m. with a two-hour college coaches panel from 3-5 p.m. at Lynchburg College. On Sunday, games will begin at all locations at 9 a.m. and will conclude at 3 p.m.
Fans looking for a local soccer preview on Sunday can come to Lynchburg College to watch Liberty High School and one of the E.C. Glass teams on opposite fields at 11 a.m. Amherst will be playing at Lynchburg College at noon and one of the Jefferson Forest teams will take on the E.C. Glass Blue team at 2 p.m.
At E.C. Glass, New Covenant will play at 1 p.m. on one field while Heritage takes on Nelson County on the other field. At 2 p.m., one of the Jefferson Forest teams will take on the E.C. Glass White team.
The Heritage fields will feature club teams on Sunday, including some of the top club teams in the state of Virginia. The final games at the Heritage fields start at 1 p.m. You can't go wrong at any of the fields, where you can watch high soccer action all day on Sunday.
Spring season will start in March for all Virginia high schools, including the local teams in the Seminole District. Soccer fans can enjoy a preview on Sunday here in Lynchburg. Check out the links below for more information about spring sports in the Seminole District and other sports in the Lynchburg area.
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