WINCHESTER — After scoring seven goals on Tuesday against Warren County, James Wood senior forward Brayden Pineda positioned himself to inflict some major damage against Millbrook on Friday.
Pioneers senior goalkeeper Brandt Upson wouldn’t let him, though. And his performance gave the rest of his team enough time to settle in and do what it needed to do to secure its latest win in a stellar season.
The Millbrook High School boys’ soccer team completed a season sweep of the Colonels with a 1-0 home win on Friday. The Pioneers — who defeated James Wood 4-2 on March 24 — won their fourth straight game to improve to 10-3 and dropped the Colonels to 4-9-1.
On the scoreboard, a brilliant sequence of five passes in the 37th minute made the difference.
After Shawn Nathan Fameni played the ball forward and toward the right sideline to Ian Melnikoff, he centered a pass about 12 yards from the end line. Junior Steve Luna Pleitez then let the ball run toward his back right leg and flicked the ball with his heel toward the far left post. Fameni ran onto it and scored from just a few yards away for the game’s only goal.
“Steve and Shawn have been coming up big for us recently,” Pioneers coach Rhonda Cottino said.
Prior to that moment, Millbrook had been outshot 9-4, and several of those opportunities were dangerous.
“I’ll give credit to James Wood. They kept us on our toes the first 20 minutes of the first half,” Upson said. “They really put up a fight, and they challenged us.”
Upson made seven of his eight total saves in that time to keep the game scoreless. In the 14th minute and 23rd minute, Upson made kick saves on liners in the air from Pineda, who scored both of Wood’s goals in the first meeting with Millbrook.
“I think the defense did very well slowing him down and forcing him out wide to where I could get the angle and make the saves,” Upson said.
In the first half, Upson also had to secure a one-hop direct kick that had some pace off the foot of Pineda, leapt to bat a way a ball in traffic, and positioned himself correctly for his other saves.
“It was 0-0 [after 37 minutes], and that’s because of Brandt Upson,” Cottino said. “He made three or four point-blank saves that kept us in the game. That could have gone very differently in the first half.”
Millbrook’s defense tightened up after Upson’s second kick save, and the Pioneers came together particularly well in the second half.
“We learned a lot [from the early part of the game], and we played physical,” Upson said. “Coming out of halftime, I think we just really worked together and found a way to win.
“We wanted the ball. The first half, James Wood was winning every 50-50 ball. They were stepping to everything. That was hurting us and gave them a lot of chances. At halftime, we talked about it. We came together and were like, ‘Hey, we’ve got to bring this energy. We’ve got to win this ball every time.'”
Cottino said she liked the aggression Millbrook showed to win possession after halftme. She also felt the Pioneers did a better job of keeping possession in the midfield better, attacking better, and limiting what Pineda and Micah Shibeshi were trying to do offensively for James Wood. Pineda did nearly score in the 70th minute, but his tough-angle shot from the right side was grounded wide to the left.
Colonels coach Chris Johnson wanted the win, but he’s pleased that James Wood is now finally able to show what it’s capable of. Johnson and Upson both noted that injuries have hurt the Colonels this year, particularly during their six-game losing streak from April 9 to April 28. Johnson said the Colonels have had seven or eight players miss time with injuries.
James Wood snapped that skid with a 4-3 win over Clarke County on April 30, than took the field as healthy as they’ve been in a long time in Tuesday’s 12-0 win over Warren County. The Colonels finished with a 12-10 shot edge and received four saves from Ivan Cruz Diego on Friday.
“We knew we could compete with [Millbrook],” Johnson said. “Things didn’t go our way in the end, but I thought the boys played really hard tonight. We possessed the ball really well. I know we gave them a completely different game than we had the first time.
“We had a lot of guys get some good looks at the goal. We’ve got a lot more tools in our tool box up top than a lot of people give us respect for. We just couldn’t finish in the first half. If we find the back of the net, it’s a completely different game.”
James Wood and Millbrook are both next in action on Tuesday. The Colonels travel to Skyline and the Pioneers host Warren County.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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