Wood Boys’ Soccer Blanks Handley, 1-0

Posted: April 26, 2013
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

WINCHESTER — The Handley boys’ soccer team created a lot of reactionary moments from the Handley Bowl crowd Thursday.

People were either cheering or lamenting James Wood goalkeeper Cameron Frye’s highlight-video saves, or sighing relief or groaning over the Judges’ shots that just missed the frame of the goal.

James Wood provided the only extended celebration moment though.

Handley finished with a 21-4 edge in shots, but James Wood’s Dan Schoeman was the only one who found the back of the net, doing so in the 69th minute to leave the Colonels all smiles following their 1-0 Northwestern District victory.

“These guys never quit,” said James Wood coach Matt Dunsmore said. “That’s one thing we can be very proud of. I’ve said before that we need to work on 80 minutes, and today we definitely did that. I’m real proud of the guys today. No quit in them.”

Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” which includes the words, “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance” played in the background as Dunsmore spoke.

James Wood (5-5-1, 2-0 Northwestern) only had one shot all game from inside 20 yards, and fortunately for the Colonels, Schoeman didn’t miss it.

Tommy Houser helped make it happen with his free kick from 40 yards out on the right side of the field.

He played the ball to just outside the goalbox, where it was shouldered in the air a few yards ahead by a Handley defender. The ball then deflected off another player before ricocheting to Schoeman, who swept the ball in with his foot from about five yards out.

“I got lucky,” said Schoeman with a smile.

But Schoeman also mentioned the Colonels practice long free kicks all the time to be prepared for any scenario and any bounce of the ball.

“We know that’s something that we can do well, whether it’s winning a header in the box on a throw-in or a corner kick, or scoring off a free kick,” Dunsmore said. “It’s something we work on every day. They know their runs, they know where to be. They don’t always do it right, but when it works, it’s great.”

The score left the Judges 11 minutes to try and get an equalizer, and in the final seconds, they nearly got it.

Following his corner kick, Handley senior midfielder Ryan Coyne got the ball back when he collected an errant shot near the end line to the left of the goal. Coyne fired a cross back toward the middle that bounced off Bryan Gomez’s chest toward the goal, but Schoeman was able to clear the ball away toward the top of the penalty box, and the Judges were unable to get a rebound shot on frame.

As close as that opportunity came to going in, the most remarkable thing about it was that the Judges (3-6-1, 1-2-1) were still searching for their first goal at that point.

That’s because in the first half, Handley made Frye (10 saves, six in the first half) test every bit of his athleticism. Frye made two particularly big saves on Coyne, diving to his left to stop a grounded shot 15 minutes in, then diving to his left to stop another low shot that seemed destined to sneak inside the right post in the final seconds of the first half.

Frye said he was just reacting to the ball, and he felt a big reason why the Colonels were giving up some high-percentage shots was because James Wood needed time to adjust to Handley’s artificial turf.

“We kept in front of the ball [in the second half],” Frye said. “Our defense is all about containing the offense. I just told them keep in front of the ball, let them dribble around, and don’t let them have a shot.”

With a James Wood defense led by Brandon Jones denying penetrating runs in the second half, virtually all of the Judges shot came from outside the 18 in the second half, though some were definitely threatening.

For Handley coach Cosmo Balio, it was all he could do to not shake his head after the Judges did so many things right.

“They dropped people behind the ball, and we knew they were going to try and play like that,” Balio said. “We were conditioning our backs to come forward and try and expose the space behind them. We were kind of clueless at times where to turn, whether to go inside or outside. They played a great tactical game with us, spot-marking [junior midfielder] Ismael [Trejo] here and there.

“But it burns when you dominate for 90 percent of the game possession-wise and you can’t come away with a goal. We just didn’t get deadly enough in certain parts of the field, and give credit to their keeper, because he made good saves when he needed to. Soccer’s a game where you can completely dominate, and you turn your head for two seconds and the ball’s in the back of the net and you lose.”

Balio — whose team is the only one in the district to get a point against Sherando as a result of Tuesday’s tie — does have a lot of confidence going forward because of how his team is progressing.

The Judges just couldn’t smile like James Wood could Thursday though.

“Anytime you get a 1-0 win on their field, it’s always a good feeling,” Frye said. “It’s alwys something you can build off of.”

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