Boy's Soccer: Warriors 3, Wood1

Posted: April 2, 2014
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

WINCHESTER — Given that the James Wood boys’ soccer team only managed two shots in the first half, the Colonels had to like their situation at halftime.

James Wood was only down one goal. And given that the Colonels had already tied the game once on a long throw-in from the hands of sophomore Colin Watts, there was no reason why they couldn’t tie the game again given the number of long throw-ins they had already had near Sherando’s goal.

Tommy Buono has a way of changing a game’s dynamics though.

The Warrior junior forward needed just 21 seconds of the second half to put Sherando up by two goals, and the Colonels were unable to close the gap while managing just four shots over the remainder of the game in a 3-1 Northwestern District victory by Sherando Tuesday night at Kelican Stadium.

Buono — Sherando’s leading returning scorer after recording 13 goals and six seasons during an honorable mention all-state campaign as a sophomore — just seemed to be moving at a faster pace than everyone else at the start of both halves. He scored less than three minutes into the game to put Sherando (4-0, 1-0 Northwestern) up 1-0.

“The biggest thing was the start. If you take out the first [three minutes] of the first half and the first minute of the second half, we’re tied 1-1,” said James Wood coach Matt Dunsmore, who was otherwise pleased at how the Colonels (0-4, 0-2) rebounded from last Thursday’s 9-1 loss to Tuscarora. “We’ve just got to start quicker and start faster. No excuses. We’ve got to do it.”

Buono was plenty blazing to start the second half, as he took a ball played from near midfield by freshman Seth Wade on the left side and pushed it ahead toward the goal, using the outside of his right foot to fire the ball in from close range to make it 3-1.

“I thought that brought us back into the game,” Buono said. “We didn’t want that margin at the half, and we just wanted to get that extra goal to give us a better chance to win.”

Though James Wood did manage more long throw-ins near goal over the course of the second half, it was asking a lot to get two goals in such fashion. The Colonels were not able to put together a consistent offense in the run of play and most of their best chances came on set pieces.

Though Sherando was healthier than it was in Thursday’s 2-1 win over Potomac Falls with the return of players like junior defender Rhett Morris and freshman midfielder Sean Buono, Warriors coach Pat Anderson thought his team regressed a bit from that win in terms of team play.

“I thought we played well, but we tried to do a little bit by ourselves at times,” Anderson said. “The Pot Falls game, we did a better job of letting the ball do more work for us. We got settled down there in the second half, we just couldn’t finish very well even though we got some opportunities down there.”

Buono’s early second-half goal allowed Sherando to play with a little more aggression in the second half, and the defense did its part in holding down James Wood.

“We did a decent job of shutting things down and not giving them space to run at us,” Anderson said. “We didn’t want to give up the long throw-ins, but we did, and that’s something we have to work on a little bit more.”

After Buono scored off a Wade assist three minutes in, it was James Wood senior forward Christian Marchelewski who was sprinting and yelling back to midfield after he headed in Watts’ throw-in in the 12th minute.

Neither team managed a shot over the next 16 minutes, but the Warriors managed to grab some of the momentum back when a deflected ball rolled out to Sherando junior midfielder Zach Wagner on the left side of the penalty box. Wagner played the ball in the air to junior forward Jov Hall, who headed the ball in from a few yards away from goal to put Sherando up 2-1.

Even if the Warriors’ performance wasn’t perfect, their record still is. And even though the Colonels are still searching for their first win, a young team that had to replace nine starters thought this was an effort to build on.

“The main thing was that we never gave up the whole time,” said senior midfielder Luke Farinholt. “We worked hard, put together some passes in the midfield, and did all we could.”

Dunsmore added, “We’re getting better every day and every game. Our last game compared to this was night and day. I’m proud of the boys with the way we fought today.”

Sherando had a 15-6 shot advantage, and Cole Morris made five saves for the Colonels.

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