Head of the class

Wood beats Handley for 1st place in the district

April 22, 2011

By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star       

WINCHESTER- James Wood coach Chris Hild hugged senior forward Matt Henriques, then caught Elliot Shiben as the senior goalkeeper leapt into his arms.

For much of Thursday's Northwestern District boys' soccer game at the Handley Bowl, it didn't appear that the Colonels would be the ones celebrating at the conclusion.

But James Wood was hardly surprised. When a team's as confident and focused as this bunch, no scenario is impossible.

"[Playing Handley] is what we've been looking forward to this whole season," James Wood senior sweeper Josh Marts said after the Colonels' 1-0 victory over the Judges. "We come out to practice knowing that they're going to be the hardest ones in the district to beat. We came out here to prove a message, and we proved it today."

Essentially, James Wood - which got a goal from Henriques in the 59th minute - wants to prove it's the best in the district.

There's a lot of season left before that can be decided. But the Colonels (7-2-1, 4-0) know this: Handley's 12-game district winning streak is over, and the only remaining undefeated team in the district isn't the defending champs. "Passion and desire," said Hild in describing what it took to win a game in which Handley had a 17-7 shot advantage and a sizeable advantage in ball possession. "Handley did probably out-possess us most of the game, and that was probably the same thing Millbrook did to us.

"But we don't ever give up. Our breakaway transition is key to winning our games lately. Our guys have it in our minds that we want to go to regionals, and that's our driving force."

If the Colonels make that trip, much credit will go to Henriques' powerful motor.

As the second half neared its midpoint, James Wood had taken five shots but none that forced Handley goalkeeper David Cesnik to make a save.

But then the player Marts initially called "Michael Jordan" when describing him after the game played a long ball up to Henriques.

The pass from Colonels basketball player Michael Carter - just called up from the JV this week - put the big and physical Henriques in perfect position to work his magic. Henriques ran onto the ball, bodied off Handley defender Levi Stein in the box, and blasted a shot past Cesnik from 12 yards out.

"When Matt's not pressuring as much as [some people] think he should, that's just Matt hiding away, waiting for that one moment," Hild said. "That's all he needs, is that one breakaway."

James Wood's defense made it stand up, allowing just three shots in the last 21 minutes, none of which forced Shiben (six saves) to make a save. That was a big change from the pressure Shiben faced early in the game.

Shiben had to make four saves in the first 18 minutes. The last of those was a spectacular one in which he dove low to his right to punch away a 25-yard blast from Deni Deyanov.

After that, the Judges' attempts weren't nearly as accurate, though Eduardo Santiago had a golden opportunity from about 10 yards away in the 50th minute. He blasted a shot off the inside of the right post, only to see it ricochet back about 35 yards instead of going in.

The Judges' decline in shooting was probably partly because of Marts and stopper Jacob Carpenter. Handley coach Cosmo Balio thought the duo took the Judges out of their rhythm by closing in quickly when the Judges had the ball near the 18.

Regardless of that, Balio felt Thursday's game was one the Judges (7-3, 2-1) should have captured. Their passes and runs were significantly more efficient and dangerous than in Wednesday's win over Sherando.

"It's a tough one," said Balio, whose team had not lost within the district since dropping a tournament semifinal to Brentsville in 2009. "You dominate a game as much as we did ... it was 95 [percent] to 5 in my opinion, possession. It's about putting the ball in the net, and we couldn't do that tonight.

"My thought is, you can still win the district at 7-1. ... You have to play everybody twice. We're looking forward to going to their place."

With the way Handley played, Santiago said there's no reason the Judges shouldn't be optimistic going forward.

"I think the whole game we kept the ball like we wanted to," he said. "We played the ball, we kept possession, but we just couldn't finish. We're just going to take it one game at a time like always, and try our best every game."

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