The exciting run of Nansemond River High School’s 2015 boys’ soccer team came to a conclusion in the Region 4A South semifinals on Wednesday.

The Warriors fell behind 1-0 in the first half against Jamestown High School before ultimately losing 3-1 at Sanford B. Wanner Stadium in Williamsburg.

“They fought hard,” NR coach Dustin Tordoff said. “I think they gave what they had. We showed improvement from the last time we played them.”

The Warriors visited the Eagles on April 28, losing 5-2 in a game marked by a season-ending injury to Nansemond River junior starting midfielder Maliq Webster. The injury prompted a significant delay, which further affected the atmosphere of the game.

That game was also played on grass, while Wednesday’s contest took place both on turf and on a much wider playing surface than the Warriors are accustomed to.

Tordoff said that after getting used to the extra space in the first 10 to 15 minutes of the game, “we started really being ourselves.”

In terms of the Warriors’ specific improvements over the April 28 contest, “The defensive line played better this time,” the coach said. “We were able to shut down a lot of their offensive flow.”

He specifically praised the play of junior Brandon Dowden, along with senior Austin Heyman, freshman Maycol Reyes and sophomore Jacob Baker.

“I think most of the goals came from set pieces that were given right outside of the box, and that’s tough to defend,” Tordoff said.

The Eagles scored their first goal with 16 seconds left in the first half on a free kick that crossed in front of the goal and was kicked in by another player from point-blank range.

Nansemond River has been accustomed to 1-0 leads, defeating Midlothian High School in the regional quarterfinal and Denbigh High School in the conference tournament final by the same margin.

Given the second-half challenge of coming back from that margin on Wednesday, the Warriors stumbled right out of the gate. Jamestown brought the ball right down the field from the opening whistle and scored on a shot left of the goal.

The whole offensive push took only 10 seconds off the clock.

But Nansemond River came back to within one goal with 27:49 remaining in the game, after the Eagles were called for a hand ball in their own goal area.

Warriors junior Axel Lopez drove the ball into the net on the penalty kick as the Jamestown goalkeeper dove off to the left.

“It was a beautiful PK by him,” Tordoff said of Lopez.

Nansemond River had strong scoring chances with 13:45 and 10:05 remaining, but it could not capitalize on them.

The Eagles scored again with 9:03 to go, establishing some valuable cushion for themselves on the scoreboard.

Throughout the game, they frequently won balls in the air due, in part, to their height advantage.

“We’re 4-foot-11, and they’re 6-foot-2,” Tordoff said, but noted his team is used to playing with that disadvantage. “We’re used to being able to create our space, but it was a little difficult to create our space in this game.”

The Warriors finished the season with a 12-6-2 record, and Tordoff was pleased, given the difficulty of the team’s schedule.

“I don’t think most teams go through four regional qualifiers in 4A, four regional qualifiers in 5A and two regional qualifiers in 6A and win 12 games,” he said.