Last-minute goal lifts James Wood boys over Handley

By JERRY HOLSWORTH SPECIAL TO THE STAR | The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — For the third straight game, the Handley boys’ soccer team failed to score a goal from the field.

And this time, it cost the Judges two seeding spots in the Conference 21 West Tournament.

James Wood’s Chris Lakin scored in the final minute to give the Colonels a 2-1 win at James R. Wilkins Jr. Stadium. The loss dropped Handley to the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament, where the Judges will host No. 5 Woodgrove on Wednesday. No. 6 James Wood will travel to No. 3 Millbrook at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

“It the same old story for us,” said Handley coach Scott Bucey, whose squad’s lone score Monday came on a penalty kick. “We’re really not interested in consolation prizes. We’ve been consistently outplaying our opponents but we aren’t finishing things. It’s very frustrating to come in and outplay your opponent and not come away with a win.”

Though Handley accumulated the third most points (seven) in conference play and Millbrook accumulated the second most (nine), James Wood coach Brian Sullivan said he was told Handley and Millbrook had their wins against Woodgrove retroactively taken away because Harrisonburg did not play the Wolverines, which prevented the Blue Streaks from accumulating more than the six points they finished with. In the new standings, Harrisonburg (six points) gets the No. 2 seed because of its tiebreaking win over Millbrook (six points), and Handley (four points) gets the No. 4 seed.

On Monday, with the score tied 1-1 and the clock ticking away the final seconds of regulation, Colonels midfielder Xavier Kallash-Kyler broke free down the right side of the field. Pushing the ball deep into Handley territory the Wood junior crossed the ball into the Judges penalty box and Lakin redirected the ball into the net from 10 yards out.

“That was just awesome,” Lakin said. “Xavier just gave me a perfect ball and I just sent it into the goal. It was a really hard fought game by both teams. You could tell that Handley really wanted it, but we were able come through and get the win though.”

Lakin’s heroics gave the Colonels their second win against the Judges, both by a goal. Handley completely dominated second-half play, outshooting Wood 5-2 and piling up a 5-0 edge in corner kicks.

“I thought we played the first half well,” said Sullivan, whose squad led 1-0 at the break. “We did the things that we’ve been practicing all season long. They really pressed us in the second half, and that kept on our heels.”

The first half was even as both sides attacked the other’s goal. The Judges had a 5-4 edge in shots as both teams kept the opposing keeper busy. Handley’s Joel Romero and Wood’s Ethan Russell each made three tough saves.

The Colonels were the only ones to take advantage of their opportunities. With 22 minutes left in the half, Jairo Reyes broke free at midfield and raced alone to the Handley goal. He let loose a hard shot from 10 yards out that beat Romero to put the Colonels up 1-0.

Handley had several near-misses but was unable to score in the first 40 minutes.

“Our defense did a good job,” Russell said. “We did a good job of containing them when they got near our goal, and stopping them when we needed to. It’s a good confidence builder going into the playoffs with a win like this.”

During the entire second half, the Judges relentlessly attacked Wood’s goal and kept the ball deep in Colonels territory for most of the half. Shots by Jesus Trejo Santander and Chris Nerangis both had shots that narrowly missed tying the score.

“We’re getting down in the box and its really coming down to our decision making,” Bucey said. “We pass the ball when we should shoot it, and we shoot the ball when we should pass it. If we don’t figure this out, our season is going to be over real soon.”

With nine minutes left, Handley got a chance to tie when Saber Ali was fouled inside the penalty area. The Judges senior blasted the ball to the left post past a diving Russell to tie the score 1-1.

“We’re always trying to drive the ball hard towards their goal,” Santander said. “I thought we put forth a real team effort. We have to just move forward from this and do our best on Wednesday.”

Wood rebounded after giving up the tying goal. With two minutes left, the Colonels finally found their offense when Reyes launched a blistering shot from 12 yards that was saved by Romero. A minute later, Romero could not stop the shot by Lakin.

“I thought that penalty kick really woke us up,” Sullivan said. “We realized then that we had to go out and take this game. We weren’t going to be satisfied with a tie. We beat them earlier in the season and we wanted to do it again. I can’t remember the last time James Wood has beaten Handley twice in the same season, maybe never. I’m so proud of this team.”