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Returning to his specialty

Lafayette goalkeeper Justin Wolfe played his first season of football as a senior, and now readies for his last socccer season.

By JENNIFER L. WILLIAMS | jwilliams@dailypress.com | 247-4644

WILLIAMSBURG — Justin Wolfe’s senior soccer season at Lafayette should be his best. He has tinkered with technique and lifted weights to get stronger, and added football last fall for the first time.

That’s right. The first-team all-Bay Rivers District goalkeeper played wide receiver for the first time in his life.

Frequent weightlifting and club soccer play during the offseason have Wolfe in tip-top shape this spring.

“He’s gotten better; he’s gotten quicker,” said Lafayette soccer coach Brian Sorrell. “He’s a force in the net, he really is. He moves well. He’s not scared of anything.”

Wolfe will play soccer at Christopher Newport University in the fall, but first he will try to help the Rams return to the Region I tournament. The 5-foot-8 netminder is a longtime varsity fixture.

During his freshman season, Wolfe, then a backup, saved a penalty kick to preserve a Rams victory in the regional quarterfinals. Steady progress earned him the starting role.

Last season, Wolfe posted 10 shutouts for a 0.71 goals-against average as the Rams made the regional. He was chosen first-team all-Bay Rivers District and second-team all-region.

Sorrell, a special-teams assistant for football, had tried to get Wolfe out every fall. And every year Wolfe would skip summer weightlifting and it just wouldn’t happen.
But last year, he decided, was his last chance. And he said it wasn’t that rough being a rookie wideout.

“Not really, because I have really good hands, that’s the thing — so I could play wide receiver,” he said. “And I’m fast. It was pretty easy for me to pick up.”

His reception on third-and-long against Smithfield kept a Lafayette drive alive for one of the highlights.

Although football threw off his soccer skills a little, Wolfe enjoyed it. He also has offered to play more in the field for Lafayette this season if Sorrell wants him there.

Junior Drake Kuhn has played plenty in both goal and the field. But Wolfe has spent the past six years in goal and is most valuable there.

“There’s definitely a lot of stuff to work on,” Wolfe said. “You don’t really think about it, but different movements and stuff. You’ve got to be quick. You’ve got to know where the ball is.

“You’ve got to be able to see the field, direct people. Even talking, that’s even a big part of it.”

Wolfe recently found something he was constantly doing wrong and fixed it. His stance leaning backward instead of forward was creating balance problems.

“He’s a smaller player, but he’s physical,” Sorrell said. “He moves well. He’s quick.
“PKs are like his specialty; he moves like a cat on those. It’s amazing how quickly he can move.”

CNU coach Steve Shaw coached Wolfe’s Virginia Legacy club team for four years, and Wolfe said he always knew he would play at CNU.

“I was always impressed with his work ethic,” Shaw said. “And I’m pretty excited he’s coming to CNU because I think he’s going to be a great college player.”

[KG123]

the big picture of wolfe in the daily press today is badass

[Boca]

Western Branch slid 4 past him in their home opener.

[mhswizard]

Justin is a machine, if he played for Jamestown i dont think there would be any thing stopping them.

[Boca]

Originally Posted by mhswizard

Justin is a machine, if he played for Jamestown i dont think there would be any thing stopping them.

do you remember how big kellam was last year? well they manhandled jamestown this year. jamestown was big, but kellam is big, quick and strong. the jamestown players were bouncing off of kellam and they didn't seem to like it. i think jamestown was used to being the bully of the block but crossed path with a heavy weight. it's humbling when you think you're tough but get knocked on you booty a few times. i don't think justin would of been able to help them. jamestown wet home with their tails tucked between their legs. swearing at their coach was a bunch of bull too.

[krawdaddy]

apparently you didnt see the game against kellam, jamestown dominated the play from start to finish. they out shot them 4 to 1 just didnt finish. nothing to worry about, that will come as they play together more. Good to lose one early on makes you humble

[Boca]

If they out shot Kellam 4 to 1 and dominated the game, how did they lose to Kellam 4 to 1? Are you saying Kellam got lucky four times? That's not what I saw. Are you talking about shot over the crossbar and wide that the Kellam keeper didn't have to move for or 4 to 1 shots on target which the keeper had to save? They couldn't stop Kellam's #5 & 22 and their defense on set plays was sorry. Their crying about calls didn't help their prestige and what's up with the yelling at the coach crap?