‘You’ve got to want it.’ Dunbar boys soccer gets important district win over Lafayette.

When two Lexington high school soccer teams meet, there’s no need for a motivational speech, especially in a district game with postseason seeding on the line, even if the playoffs are nearly six weeks away.

Lafayette snatched the 43rd District title away from three-time defending champion Paul Laurence Dunbar last year on the way to the 11th Region crown and a state finals appearance.

Dunbar’s loss to Lafayette came in a penalty kick shootout. The Bulldogs later got knocked out of the region tournament in similar fashion by Frederick Douglass, thus ending a run of three straight region titles and back-to-back state championships.

Paul Laurence Dunbar’s 1-0 victory over visiting Lafayette on Tuesday didn’t erase the Bulldogs’ sour memories from last year, but it’s a start.

“We’re definitely really hungry, a lot more than last year, that’s for sure,” said senior striker Chaz Rich, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against Trinity the week before last year’s playoffs. “You’ve got to want it. This region is probably the best region in the state. It’s probably the best district in the state.”

Rich, whose 14 goals last season tied for the team lead, had surgery Oct. 9 and endured nine months of rehab before being physically cleared to return to action in June.

“It was hard mentally at first, but now, I feel like I’m coming back stronger, and I’m more motivated than ever to do better and get out there and win state this year,” Rich said.

Rich scored a goal in his first game back, a 5-0 home win over Ryle.

“Physically, he’s back. He might not be 100 percent, but I see glimpses of the old Chaz pre-injury here and there in practice,” Dunbar coach James Wray said. “He’s a leader. He works his tail off when he’s on the field. I was going to try to get him a rest (tonight), and he was just working so hard, he made me leave him in the game.”

On Tuesday, Dunbar came out aggressively in the first half, putting the Generals on their heels and netting the game’s only goal 11 minutes into the contest.

A well-worked short corner kick play finished on the head of Owen Rowe, who redirected the ball into the net off a perfect pass in by teammate Amir Siddiqui.

“That’s a corner kick we have been practicing and on the first try (in a game), it worked,” Rowe said.

Lafayette (4-1-1, 0-1) responded well in the second half and threatened a number of times, but Dunbar’s defense held.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” Wray said. “It’s our first district game. We knew this was going to put us in good position to have the inside track to a No. 1 seed (in the district tournament) if we can take care of business the rest of the way. I didn’t have to motivate them. They were ready to play.”

Tuesday’s win moves Dunbar to 4-1-1 on the season and 1-0 in the 43rd District with three district games to play — Tates Creek (3-0-1, 1-0) on Sept. 12, Lexington Catholic (2-2-1, 1-1) on Sept. 19 and Lexington Christian (1-3, 0-1) on Sept. 21.