James Wood upsets Millbrook in Conference 21 West boys' soccer

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI | The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — There’s always anxiety amongst a soccer team’s fans whenever their team is called for an infraction that results in a penalty kick.

Supporters of James Wood’s boys are going to feel a lot better than most teams over the next three-plus years, though.

Colonels star freshman goalkeeper Ethan Russell stopped Millbrook’s Zach Hicks’ penalty kick on a dive toward the left post, then dove back in the other direction to gobble up Hicks’ rebound shot.

Ninety seconds later, the final whistle blew to give Russell and sixth-seeded James Wood a 1-0 victory over No. 3 Millbrook in the Conference 21 West first round on Wednesday at Millbrook.

James Wood (8-8) will travel to No. 2 Harrisonburg at 6 p.m. for the conference semifinals. The Colonels lost to the Blue Streaks 3-2 in overtime on May 2 in their only regular-season meeting.

With the way James Wood is playing, perhaps it will avenge that loss. The Colonels are on a three-game winning streak.

On Monday they completed a season sweep of a Handley team that the senior class hadn’t beaten once during their varsity careers.

On Wednesday they beat a Millbrook squad that had defeated them twice in two regular-season meetings to record James Wood’s first postseason win in the conference era, which began in the senior class’ freshman year of 2014.

“It means a lot,” said senior midfielder Aidan Houser, whose spectacular performance in the air resulted in the game’s only goal on offense and denied Millbrook (10-5-2) numerous times on set pieces on defense. “They got us twice, but we were determined to make the third one ours.

“I’m just ecstatic we can extend our season. We had some players come up huge for us.”

Russell was definitely one of those.

A Region I ODP keeper for his age group (13 states from Virginia to Maine), Russell only had to make one save during the first half, though Millbrook certainly put pressure on him. The Pioneers earned five corner kicks in the first 40 minutes, and Alex Leanos ripped a shot off the right post three minutes in.

But in the second half, Millbrook fired 12 shots at Russell, eight of which he was forced to make saves on.

In the 64th minute, he made a sliding save to deny Kevin Valyear who tried to push the ball past him. In the 67th minute, he came off his line to deny blasts from Valyear — and then Paul Blanco on the rebound — from close range.

But when James Wood was called for pulling down a Pioneer in the box with just under two minutes to go, Russell faced his greatest test. Hicks had converted several penalty kicks this year.

Russell said as Hicks ran up to the ball he chose to lean to Hicks’ right in hopes that Hicks would shoot the ball left, and that’s what Hicks did. Hicks’ shot was a good one — low and near the post — but Russell was able to dive to block it. The rebound came back out to Hicks, but Russell saved his grounder toward the middle of the goal too by diving back in the opposite direction.

“When I saved it the first time, I saw five of their players and none of our players, so I was pretty scared,” said Russell, who otherwise appeared to be the epitome of cool. “I saved his shot, and it was great. We fed off that for the rest of the game and got the win.”

Houser said having Russell in goal has made a big difference this year.

“He plays at a really high level, and he practices extremely hard,” Houser said. “I’m excited for him to have that game-winning performance.”

Houser’s performance was instrumental as well. In the 14th minute of the game, the 6-foot-4 basketball player leapt high from 12 yards out to redirect Liam Ebert’s free kick from near the right corner flag into the left corner of the goal.

The rest of the time, Houser played the biggest role of anyone in sending Millbrook’s balls into the Wood box out of harm’s way. The Pioneers had 10 corner kicks total in addition to several long throw-ins with the potential for danger.

“I asked Aidan to step up big,” James Wood coach Brian Sullivan said. “I told him I needed him to take over the game. Offensive corners, defensive corners, he won them. He was our saving grace there. And Ethan bailed us out with a lot of big saves.

“But it was a total team effort. The first half was fantastic on our part. Before the Handley game on Monday, we had given up the first goal in our last seven games, so we were really focusing on getting some momentum early. We’ve been outplaying teams in the last 60 minutes, but getting outplayed in the first 20. I thought if we could come out and throw the first punch, that would make a difference. Millbrook did a fantastic job pressing us in the second half. We had guys tired, cramping up, but they fought their butts off to get the job done. I’m so proud of this team.”

Millbrook — which finished with a 17-10 shot edge (12-6 second half) — did not feel like it played its best on Wednesday, but Pioneers coach Keith Kilmer gave a lot of credit to Russell and Houser for lifting the Colonels.

“I put that game down to Houser’s domination and their keeper making some key saves,” Kilmer said. “If Leanos’ shot goes in, maybe it’s a different game. But it didn’t, and James Wood worked very hard for this win.”

The Pioneers — who had to play without one of their top players Osman Montano because of an injury suffered Monday — expressed a great deal of pride in what they accomplished in this season.

“It was a great season,” said senior defender and captain Hans Kloo. “It’s always a good time to get to the 10-win mark.

“It’s a tough way to end it. But it’s a great group of guys, and I’m definitely going to miss it.”

Kilmer said, “It’s a fantastic group of guys. We didn’t have one issue on this team the entire season. They’re an outstanding group of guys.”

Chris Kozlowski made four saves for the Pioneers.

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