Warriors, Colonels walk away with tie

April 27, 2012
By Robert Stocks

STEPHENS CITY — It’s a little too early to tell where teams will fall in seeding for the Northwestern District girls’ soccer tournament, but Sherando walked off the field feeling an opportunity slipped away after Thursday night’s match.

The Warriors had a chance to sweep the regular season series with James Wood but the Frederick County rivals played to a 2-2 draw at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Warriors and Colonels are both 1-3-1 in the district but Sherando holds the inside track for third by virtue of its 4-2 win over Wood on April 10.

“If you go head-to-head we’re winning because we beat them the first time so I’d say we’re third but there’s a lot of soccer still to be played,” Sherando coach Rob Kilmer said. “We’ve got to take care of our other games and we’re obviously not doing that [thus far].”

Sherando pressured James Wood in overtime, putting a shot on goal and also earning a corner kick but came away scoreless after the two five-minute overtime periods.

“We just had some mental breakdowns and [James Wood] followed up and we didn’t — and kudos to them,” Kilmer said. “We’re coming along but I’d like to see some strikers score. We’ve got one goal off a striker this year.” The Warriors (1-7-2) have struggled offensively, scoring just seven goals heading into Thursday night’s matchup with James Wood (4-6-1). But four of those seven goals came against Wood in the first meeting, and the Warriors found the net early against the Colonels once again.

Sherando freshman Audra Sites took a nice pass from Amanda Fogarty and beat James Wood goalkeeper Vanessa Sousa in the 10th minute.

The Warriors’ lead didn’t even last a minute when James Wood freshman Alex Stanford blasted home a rebound past Sherando goalkeeper Maribeth Watkins after a shot by Sarah Callaham.

With the match tied 1-1 at the half, Sites put Sherando back on top in the 47th minute.

Fogarty played a ball from the right side of the 18-yard box into Sites in front of the goal, and the Warriors’ freshman midfielder blasted it by Sousa.

“I saw [the pass] coming in and I just tried to get a foot on it and I did and the curve just put it in there,” said Sites of her fourth goal of the season (her first was the 800th goal in the history of Sherando’s program). “I was hoping it was going in but I really wasn’t sure it was so I was really happy when it did.”

Sherando outshot James Wood 10-7 in the match, but the Colonels put together a pair of dangerous opportunities in the final 20 minutes.

Senior forward Karla Juarez had a one-on-one chance with Watkins but Juarez blasted a shot right at the Warriors junior keeper. Watkins blocked the shot and then covered it to preserve the one-goal advantage.

Six minutes later, Colonels senior Sydney Arnette blasted home a rebound for the equalizer in the 66th minute.

James Wood made a rush at the net with several players crashing the box, and Arnette followed a shot by Marissa Maddalena that got away from Watkins.

“We were all just pushing in [to the box] and waiting for a ball to come out,” said Arnette of her second goal of the season.

The game featured physical play and three James Wood players were issued yellow cards, including Callaham (36th minute), Stanford (55th) and Arnette (78th). Arnette got the yellow after a taking down Sherando’s Rose Carey, who had to be helped from the field with what Kilmer believed was just a bruised knee.

After losing to Sherando earlier this season, James Wood sophomore midfielder Meghan Hammond said her team wanted to win but feels confident going up against district opponents.

“It was a big game and if we had won we would have been in third but a tie is still good,” Hammond said. “We can beat Handley and Millbrook. All of the teams [in the district] have good skill and good speed but we just have to go out there and win. [Tonight] was a team effort and every single player out there on the field tonight played well.”

The Colonels came away with a draw with a very limited bench.

“We got behind early and came back and I thought we played well,” James Wood coach Jim Carden said. “I thought we played well. We had 12 people to play with and I thought we played well in our second overtime game this week.

“I thought we had a chance to win and we came back twice. We’ll take the tie.”

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