James Wood's defense shuts down Pioneers

By Jeremy Stafford - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

WINCHESTER -- The James Wood bench was empty, with not a single player seated during the final 20 minutes of the match.

The Colonels who weren't playing bounced up and down in a feeble attempt to shake out their nervous jitters. Their hands clung to locks of their hair.

Win, lose or tie, that hair might come out.

"It was a little stressful for a while back there," Colonels keeper Neel Jhaveri said.

For those final 20 minutes, James Wood held a one-goal advantage over district rival Millbrook, but the Pioneers were threatening. Colonels coach Chris Hild bubbled with those same jitters whenever Millbrook seniors Ryan Runion and Michael Venegas touched the ball.

The nervous shakes reached a crescendo when Millbrook senior Alex Barrette launched a shot from inside the James Wood penalty box. The shot ricocheted off a James Wood defender, the ball was cleared to junior Matt Henriques, and Henriques iced a 2-0 shutout, scoring in the waning minutes.

After eight tries, James Wood finally earned its first win of the season.

As the Colonels marched off the pitch Friday night, their faces beaming, junior Josh Marts uttered a string of words no Colonel has proudly spoken this season: "I love this feeling."

The win brought with it the Colonels' fifth and sixth goals of the season.

"To boil it up in one word, it's just desire," Hild said. "I think these guys came out with the desire and passion to win.

"To point out one player, I don't know that I could do that, because everyone contributed."

The win also marked Jhaveri's first shutout of the season, and he earned it in dramatic fashion. In the 30th minute, Venegas, the one responsible for so many nervous, bouncing Colonels, zipped a 30-yard free kick at Jhaveri's goal. Jhaveri dove to his left and batted the shot out of bounds.

Runion headed the ensuing corner kick over the goal.

"We were excited -- it's about time," Jhaveri said of the win. "It's about time, and it's good to get that first district win, especially, out of the way because our district's wide open."

Indeed, Hild said he'd rather define James Wood's season by its 1-1 record in the Northwestern District, rather than its 1-6-1 record overall.

The former is cleaner, and provides hope for the future.

"This is a little confidence booster for all of us," said James Wood senior Zach Lloyd, who scored the Colonels' first goal on a penalty kick in the 33rd minute. "I think everything will pay off in the long run: We'll come out hungry, we'll want more wins and it will keep progressing."

But for Millbrook, the growth of confidence has become bitterly dependent on whether or not the Pioneers can score goals. Millbrook hasn't scored since a 3-2 loss to Handley on April 9.

Which isn't to say the Pioneers aren't creating opportunities to score -- they are.

But Lady Luck can be a fickle mistress.

In the 47th minute, Chris Barrette cut to the top of the 18-yard mark for a clear shot, but he pulled it wide left. Later, in the 66th minute, Millbrook's Alex Barrette dinked a shot to the right side of the goal from six yards out, and the ball skipped wide right.

"These guys are feeling like there's all this pressure to finally break this scoring [drought] and I honestly think once we do, the goals are gonna start falling," Millbrook coach Keith Kilmer said. "It's just, they gotta get past that -- it's a mental thing at this point."