Warriors roar back to beat Colonels

April 11, 2012
By Jerry Holsworth

Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — The Sherando and James Wood girls’ soccer teams seemed to be heading in opposite directions as they squared off for both team’s Northwestern District opener Tuesday evening.

The Colonels were sporting a 3-1 record and the Warriors, who were starting four freshmen and three sophomores, were not only winless but also hadn’t scored in four games.

Despite a quick start by Wood, however, it was the youthful Warriors who came out on top with a 4-2 win thanks to a brilliant performance by freshman forward Audra Sites and freshman goalkeeper Maggy Beyer. “Those were our first goals of the year,” said Sherando coach Rob Kilmer. “To come here and get these goals was huge, especially the ones from a freshman.”

It didn’t take long for the goals to come.

Three minutes into the game Colonel midfielder Marissa Maddalena smashed a hard shot past starting goalkeeper Maribeth Watkins for the first goal of the game. It was also the first shot by either team.

Just four minutes later, Wood midfielder Sarah Callaham took the Colonels’ second shot of the game, curving the ball perfectly past Watkins from 25 yards out to put Wood up 2-0.

“The wind really made things difficult for us in the first half,” said Warrior sweeper Morgan Sirbaugh. “Those two goals, right off the bat, were really unnerving. But we starting pulling together after that because we knew we had to respond if we were going to win.”

Not to be outdone, Sherando also scored on its first shot of the game. Junior midfielder Ryan Magalis took a perfectly placed corner kick from teammate Kelsi Sillars and headed it into the net with 33 minutes left in the first half to narrow the Colonel lead to 2-1.

Although the Warriors were able to get on the scoreboard, they produced very little offense in the first half thanks to a gusty wind that blew at Wood’s back. But after a shaky start, Beyer — who relieved Watkins after Watkins suffered an injury — came alive in goal and was equal to the task of stopping the hard-charging Colonels.

“We were able to hold them off after those first two goals,” Sirbaugh said. “And we got the wind at our back in the second half. Thank goodness for that.”

Wood used the wind to dominate the first half, taking 10 shots on the Sherando goal to the Warriors’ three. Beyer, however, saved the next eight Colonel shots and in the process kept the score still 2-1 heading into halftime.

“Beyer was a huge difference in this game,” Kilmer said. “That’s another freshman making a big impact.”

With the wind now at Sherando’s back at the start of the second half, it took the Warriors very little time to take advantage of their opportunity. Although the wind helped, Sites was the real key to the Sherando resurgence.

With less than a minute gone in the second half, a corner kick by senior defender Kelsi Sillars took a crazy bounce off the crossbar and went into the net to tie the score at 2-2.

But with the game tied, Wood’s defense stiffened and neither side was able to make a serious scoring threat for the next 15 minutes.

One thing had changed though.

The Colonels, thanks to the wind, were only able to get three shots off in the entire second half, and their first one came with 13 minutes left in the game.

While the wind and the Warrior defense kept Wood off balance, Sites began to make her presence felt. With 16 minutes left in the game, the Warrior freshman took a pass from fellow freshman Jessica Hakel and hammered the ball past Colonel goalkeeper Vanessa Sousa from 15 yards out to give Sherando its first lead of the game.

Just three minutes later, Sites headed in a ricochet off the crossbar to put the Warriors up 4-2.

“I saw it coming and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to get it with any other part of my body,” Sites said. “So I just went for the header, and it worked.”

Less than a minute later, Sites just missed a second half hat trick when her shot bounced off the crossbar.

“That was close,” Sites said. “I really thought that it was going in. I have to admit that the wind helped us in the second half, but I really think that we wanted it more in the second half as a team.”

Wood coach Jim Carden agreed.

“I really don’t believe that the wind was a factor,” Carden said. “They just wanted it more than we did. They beat us to every ball, and they played like they wanted to win. They just outplayed us badly in the second half.”