Boy's Soccer vs. Handley

April 25, 2012
By Jerry Holsworth

Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — It was a pretty typical match when Handley and James Wood squared off in boys’ soccer Tuesday, but there was more at stake than just bragging rights between the storied rivals.

With the Colonels holding a perfect 3-0 record in the Northwestern District race, a win by the Judges would throw the district into a three-way tie — and that’s exactly what happened.

After a scoreless first half, Handley forward Eduardo Santiago put a corner kick past Wood goalkeeper Joe Kysela to give the Judges a hard-fought 1-0 victory. “I was really proud of the way our guys to stepped up and closed out a game like this,” said Handley assistant coach Mike Koper, who was in charge of the team because Cosmo Balio missed the game to tend to a personal matter. “We’ve lost leads before, but I looked at our players towards the end of the game — [I] just knew that we were going to hold on, and get the shutout.”

That brings Wood back into a tie with Handley and Sherando who, for now at least, all share a 3-1 record. The Colonels will get the first shot at separating themselves from the pack when they host Sherando on Thursday.

It was no easy win, though. The Colonels went hard after the Handley goal in the first few minutes, taking two hard, dangerous shots at the Judges’ goal in the first three minutes of play.

The Judges, however, held on and recovered sufficiently to begin attacking the Colonel goal as the first half wore on, but were outshot by Wood 10-8 over the first 40 minutes.

“It was really tough out there,” Judges midfielder Donovan Varney said. “They have some very good players at midfield. We had to fight like crazy for every ball.”

One of the keys to the Colonel success defensively was the play of Michael Carter. Given the unenviable task of shadowing Santiago on defense, the Colonel junior kept Santiago scoreless through most of the game.

“You just have to keep a close eye on him,” Carter said. “He plays all over the place. I thought I did a pretty good job.”

It did require a little chicanery though. With 18:30 to play the Judges senior broke past Carter, and was heading towards the Colonel goal. Carter quickly recovered and put his nemesis on the ground. That resulted in a free kick for the Judges but it failed to produce a goal.

“I’m used to that,” Santiago said. “I get that a lot, but he was tough to beat.”

Wood’s defensive play began to frustrate Handley late in the half, and that produced a pair of yellow cards for Santiago and fellow forward Robbie Lawler.

After an intense first half, the Judges came out more determined than ever to get the ball in Wood’s net, but the Colonel defense was again equal to the occasion. Handley ripped off three hard shots to begin the second half, but none were able to get past Kysela.

It was a pattern that continued through the first 19 minutes of the second half. The Judges outshot Wood 7-1 over that period, but came away with nothing.

But with 20 minutes to play in the game, Santiago set up for a corner kick from the left side. His kick went dangerously close to the Colonel goal and when Kysela went for it, it bounced off his hands and into the net.

“I’ve never scored a goal like that before,” Santiago said. “He left the whole front post open and I was able to slip it by him there. I put the ball right where it needed to be and it was a very hard play for any keeper to make.”

If the Judges thought that Santiago’s heroics were going to put the game on ice, they were mistaken. The Colonels responded with a relentless attack on Handley’s goal that didn’t end until the final whistle.

One move that Wood made was to move Carter from the back line to center forward. His speed and ball handling skill produced several near misses. Like the Colonels in the first 60 minutes of play, though, the Judges responded with inspired play on defense.

At least one defensive play, though, was a little too inspired. With nine minutes to play, the Colonels were awarded a throw deep in Handley’s end of the field. Judges sweeper Jack Ricci kicked the ball away from the Colonel player in the hopes of letting a little more time run off the clock. Unfortunately for Handley, the linesman saw the ploy and the Judges received their third yellow card.

None of that mattered though, as the Colonels were not able to get the equalizer.

“This district has been a dogfight since the first game,” Colonel coach Chris Hild said. “It’s not going to stop until the last game.”