Boy's Soccer - Handley Boys Shut Out Colonels, 4-0

Posted: May 16, 2015
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — One team heads into the postseason coming off a less-than inspiring performance and the other looks to be peaking at the right time.

And maybe a little bulletin board material following the first James Wood-Handley match on April 10 made the Judges eager for Friday’s Senior Day rematch with the Colonels.

The Judges scored a pair of goals in each half and dominated possession throughout in a 4-0 Northwestern District boys’ soccer victory over James Wood at the Handley Bowl to sweep the district series.

Junior striker Jesus Trejo scored a pair of goals and senior midfielder Jay Fox added a goal and assisted on another score to help the Judges notch a convincing victory after a 3-1 win in the first match between the two longtime rivals.

“Last time we played there was a comment in the paper that they thought they had the better of the play so I think that kind of motivated our guys to try to put it out there that we were going to be the better team in possession,” said Handley coach Cosmo Balio. “I thought we did and we had the ability to kind of come at them when we wanted to.

“We’re starting to click. [Thursday] fighting back [in a 3-2 win over Millbrook] and then [Friday] — two local-rival wins are always good in a week for you.”

The Judges (9-5-1 overall, 5-3 district) took the momentum early on, getting a goal in the first five minutes.

Fox, one of seven Handley seniors recognized in a pre-match ceremony, blasted a shot into the right panel to put the Judges on the board with 36:47 left in the first half.

“Seth Bridgeforth had a great throw-in and it went right past a defender and I kind of battled it from him and took it outside with a left-footed shot into the upper-right corner.” said Fox, of his fourth goal of the season. “It was a solid win. 4-0 is a solid win in any circumstance. We possessed the ball well and passed well and the defense was definitely solid on the back.”

Fox’s goal came during a dominant first half by Handley where the Judges outshot the Colonels 11-1.

Handley senior midfielder Nestor Castillo caused problems for Wood’s defense, attacking up the right side of the field to create several solid chances in the first half.

Midway through the opening half, Trejo dribbled in from the left side of the 18-yard box, making a run through the middle of the box before blasting a shot into the right panel in the 17th minute.

“Me and Seth hit on a combination, a 1-2,” Trejo said. “He flicked it back and I just saw the space open and dribbled and shot.”

The Colonels’ lone shot on goal came with 25 minutes left in the first half when Thomas Harper got past a Handley defender but sent his shot wide left. Other than Harper’s shot, the only other potentially dangerous chance came in the closing seconds when Liam Ebert sent a corner kick in front of the goal, but Judges senior keeper Cole Stevens made a leaping grab as players from both teams converged around him in front of the net.

Coming off back-to-back district wins over Skyline and Millbrook, James Wood coach Brian Sullivan said his team’s performance against the Judges was definitely a step backward.

“We’ve been playing well the last three or four games and coming out and playing with intensity and heart and some fire to kind of address some of the weaknesses we have on the field but today we were just out-toughed,” Sullivan said. “[Handley] was fantastic, defensively, offensively and we didn’t win our first 50-50 ball in the air until halfway through the first half.

“That’s when the game started to change a little bit but they just wanted it a whole heck of a lot more. They were composed and they’re very skilled up top and they exploited us.”

The Judges kept the pressure on in the second half, putting five shots on goal in the first 10 minutes. Handley outshot the Colonels 21-3 for the match.

Handley’s second-half goals came off a pair of set plays.

The Judges’ third goal came on the team’s fourth corner-kick opportunity of the match. Jorge Cruz sent his service into the box right to Andrew McIntyre, who only needed to stretch out his leg to re-direct it into the goal in the 63rd minute.

Fox and Trejo teamed up for the final goal on a direct kick.

Fox tapped the ball to his right to Trejo, who hammered it into the net past Wood goalkeeper Cole Morris (eight saves) from about 25 yards out with just under five minutes left.

The final goal was Trejo’s team-best 10th goal of the season and Fox’s team-high seventh assist.

Morris (one save) and Haniel Lopez (two saves) each played a half to combine for the shutout.

The Judges, winners of four of their last five, have one final regular-season match left on the road at Harrisonburg on Wednesday before opening Conference 23 Tournament play at home on May 25.

“If we win [at Harrisonburg] and Charlottesville loses at Orange, then we sneak into third and we’ll take that,” Balio said. “Overall, we’re happy moving into next week. We’ll have a doubleheader on Memorial Day with the girls. They play at 2 and we play at 4:30 — [our] opponent [is] to-be-determined.”

James Wood (3-13, 3-5 district), seeded No. 8 seed in Conference 21, plays at top-seeded Sherando on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the conference quarterfinals.

“It’s another very good team that we’ll need to bring some intensity [for] and regroup,” Sullivan said. “We’ve played them twice and the first one was competitive for the first half and the last one they kind of manhandled us so we’ll see which team shows up.”

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