Boys' Soccer - Warriors Win On Set Play

Posted: May 20, 2016
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — A play the Sherando boys’ soccer team worked on at the end of Wednesday’s practice paid off for the Warriors in their Conference 21 West quarterfinal matchup with James Wood on Thursday.

A penalty on James Wood gave the Warriors a direct kick from just beyond the center of the 18-yard box, and Seth Wade, Nate Laing, Jack Flanagan and Nathan Wagner executed the play to perfection.

After Laing ran over the ball, Flanagan chipped it to the right side of the 18 toward the right post. From there, Wade broke off from the Warriors’ wall, and he crossed the ball in front of the goal.

Wagner took the cross from Wade and blasted it by James Wood keeper Cole Morris in the 61st minute, helping Sherando edge James Wood 3-2 at Kelican Stadium on Thursday night.

With the victory, the No. 5 Warriors (7-7-2) advance to face unbeaten and top-seeded Handley (16-0) in the conference semifinals at the Handley Bowl at 6 p.m. on Monday.

Wade said his teammates did a nice job executing on the game-winning goal.

“[Nate Laing] ran over the ball, then Jack [Flanagan] played it behind the wall and I was peeling around the back,” Wade said of the go-ahead goal. “I slotted it back and [Wagner] was just running and put it in from about six yards out.”

Sherando coach Pat Anderson said only a few players worked on the play at Wednesday’s practice.

“We said if the opportunity was there to run it, but if not then you guys are free,” Anderson said. “I try to let them have a little creativity. They ran it, and we got good on it.”

Fourth-seeded James Wood (7-9-1) turned in its best effort against the Warriors, who swept the Colonels during the regular season (winning 5-3 and 2-0).

The Colonels had a goal disallowed in the closing minutes after Aidan Houser was taken down just outside the right edge of the 18. On the ensuing direct kick, the Colonels put the ball in the net, but Colin Watts received a yellow card for knocking the ball in with his hand.

“They called a hand ball,” said James Wood coach Brian Sullivan. “He whacked it in with his hand. We were fighting there at the end and even had a few good looks in the second half.

“But as soon as we went down a goal in the second half, they kind of took us out of the way we wanted to play. I thought the first 15 minutes [of the match] our possession was really good and we were keeping the ball on the ground. That led to a goal, and we kind of got away from that. They went up 2-1, and we got back to that. We’re at our best when we’ve got our forwards holding the ball up and keeping the ball on the ground.”

Just a few minutes prior to the disallowed goal, the Colonels created a solid scoring chance off a throw-in from the right side. Watts’ throw sailed into the middle of the box to Houser, who headed it from point-blank range, but Warriors goalkeeper Matthew Jolin made the save.

Houser said it was a tough game, but credited Sherando for its play on the go-ahead goal.

“I actually caught someone’s head on [the header], so I got the ball and a head to the face,” Houser said. “Colin and I — all year he throws to me and I was trying to put something on it. It’s tough because most teams put two guys on me, but that time at the end of the game I threw my body at it.

“It was just one really good play by them. Seth [Wade] went up on that free kick and they had a diversion and then played it down to someone. They got us on a good play.”

The play in the first half was back-and-forth with four goals in a 13-minute span.

The Colonels proved to be particularly dangerous on throw-ins throughout.

Alec Hager’s header off a throw-in by Watts put the Colonels ahead 1-0 in the 10th minute, but Sherando answered just five minutes later.

The Warriors took four straight corner kicks and nine corners in the first half. The Colonels couldn’t clear the ball out, and Laing scored off an assist by Jacob Sites after the fourth straight corner to even the score in the 15th minute.

The Warriors freshman also set up Sherando’s second goal, making a nice run from midfield past a trio of Wood defenders into the 18. Laing sent the ball into the box to Flanagan, whose shot hit the crossbar and bounced down just beyond the goal line in the 20th minute.

James Wood sophomore Xavier Kallash-Kyler scored off an assist by Ben Marsh in the 23rd minute to make it 2-2 at the half.

Overall, Sullivan liked his team’s effort through a chaotic first half with four goals bunched together, but he said his team made a couple miscues that Sherando capitalized on.

“We talked all season about not making mistakes and the first goal they got — we didn’t clear the ball back,” Sullivan said. “We missed a clearance and it led to several corners, so we struggled with that. It’s frustrating sometimes.

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