NWD BOYS’ SOCCER: WOOD EDGES HANDLEY ON PKS

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

WINCHESTER —More pressure. More kicks. Same cool. For the second straight year, Logan Yost propelled the James Wood boys’ soccer team into the Northwestern District final with the clinching score in a penalty -kick shootout victory, this time over No. 2 Handley in the district semifinals Saturday at the Handley Bowl.

After the teams battled a 2-2 tie in regulation, went scoreless in 20 minutes of overtime and were deadlocked (4-4) after the standard five rounds of penalty kicks, Yost —who forced extra PKs by making the Colonels’ fifth and final attempt —ended the match after seven rounds by burying a shot in the left side of the net for a 5-4 James Wood penalty kick win. Just like last year, when Yost’s PK clinched a 4-2 shootout win over Sherando in the semifinals, Yost’s final kick prompted a mad dash toward him from his teammates. But last year, James Wood (9-8) knew win or lose it was going to play in the Region II tournament because it had won the regular-season title. This year the Colonels’ season was riding in the balance, and now they’ll have a chance to return to the Region II tournament if they can beat No. 4 Millbrook in Tuesday’s 5 p.m. final at the Handley Bowl. If there’s one certainty about that contest, nerves shouldn’t be a problem for the Colonels. “I’ve played travel ball my whole life, and I’ve been in that same [penalty kick] position before,” said Yost, a senior sweeper. “I always look to be [the] No. 5 [shooter]. I love the pressure.” Yost made that clear to James Wood coach Chris Hild when it came time to decide on the second Colonels’ shooter during extra PKs, which had not gone the way of the offense to that point.

Handley (6-11), which was shooting first, had seen Donovan Varney (one goal in regulation), stopped by Joe Kysela (10 saves in regulation) and sophomore midfielder/forward Ismael Trejo shoot over the goal. James Wood’s Chandler DeHaven (one goal in regulation) had been denied, interestingly enough, by the second diving save of Trejo.

Trejo had volunteered to play goal in the shootout after telling Handley coach Cosmo Balio in the last week that he been a goalkeeper before moving from Mexico, and now, he would have to make another big stop after his own miss. “I was going to give [the next kick] to someone else, but Logan came to me as a senior and captain and said he wanted it, so I can’t do anything more than the player that wants it, let him take it,” Hild said. “Especially with all that pressure.” Trejo got a hand on Yost’s first shot, but Yost’s game-winner went in clean.
For the Colonels, it was the perfect way to end things after Jon Henriques had nearly ended the game twice in sudden death overtime, watching one shot go off the bottom of the crossbar and out and another shot knocked away by diving goalkeeper Tirone Young. “The team never gave up,” Hild said.

“ ‘Team’ needs to be in all caps, because that’s exactly what they are. These guys come together, put their arms around each other and play for each other.” As enthused as Yost is about playing in the final, he also joked about how he’s glad he’ll never have to face Handley senior midfielder/forward Eduardo Santiago again.

The two -time Group AA all-state player tied the game at 2-2 in the 54th minute following a spectacular run after getting knocked down by the right sideline. After getting back up, he drove hard to the end line before cutting back inside and beating Kysela near post, this despite having three defenders converge on him during the run. Handley coach Cosmo Balio said he couldn’t have asked for more from Santiago and Trejo this year for how much they did this year to help such a young and inexperienced team develop.

“This season, they were keyed on 100 percent of the time, and to put up the stats they did ... we played no slouches, we didn’t play any [non -district team] with a losing record, and we hung tight all year long,” Balio said. “As a group I thought we grew. “I’m disappointed [in the result], but I was proud of these guys today because they gave everything they had. And we’ll sorely miss Eduardo and the rest of our seniors.” Handley had a 26-20 shot advantage overall in a game that was tied 1-1 at the half. For the Colonels, Mel Savarese had a goal and Garrett Hodgson had an assist.

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