Girl's Soccer vs. Briar Woods

May 29, 2012
By JERRY HOLSWORTH
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — It was a sad ending to an historic season for the James Wood girls’ soccer team.

After qualifying for the Region II tournament for the first time in school history, the Colonels were overpowered by Briar Woods 13-0 Monday at James Wood High School.

The victory sets up a showdown for the Falcons with Dulles District champ Woodgrove, who finished the season 15-0-1 and is the top-seeded team in the Region II tournament.

“We worked well tonight as a team,” Falcon coach Ann Vierkorn said. “We’ve been working hard all season, and it’s nice to see things coming together when they need to. I give credit to Wood for playing hard all the way to the end. It wasn’t an easy night for them.”

For Wood (8-10-1), it was obvious from the first whistle that it was overmatched by the Falcons, who boast seven Division I prospects in their lineup.

The Falcons took very little time establishing that dominance, scoring with their first shot of the game with 38 minutes still to play in the first half.

“I’m really proud of how we played this season,” Colonel midfielder Sarah Callaham said. “Briar Woods has a phenomenal team. They have great touch with the ball, and their passes are near perfect. We were outmatched tonight, but I have to give my teammates credit. We kept fighting to the end and we never gave up.”

In all Briar Woods took 18 shots in the first half to the Colonels’ two, and most of the half was played at or near the Wood goal. The result was three more Falcons’ goals within a three-minute span that left the Colonels trailing 4-0 with 26 minutes still left in the half.

McKensey Ziegler finished the first half scoring for the Falcons with a volley near the Wood goal to give Briar Woods a commanding 5-0 lead at halftime.

It took less than a minute into the second half for the Falcons to add to their lead.

Alexis Haycraft hammered home a shot from 15 yards out just 30 seconds into the second half to put the Falcons up 6-0. It was the first of two Briar Woods goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half, giving them at 7-0 lead with 30 minutes to play.

“We’ve made a lot of progress since the beginning of the year,” Colonel fullback Emma Watts said. “We pulled through and made the regionals for the first time.

“Tonight, we played a team that plays at an entirely different level than the Northwestern District. They made passes and moves that none of us have seen in district play. It’s tough to take a loss like this, but now we have a taste of what it’s like to get to this level and try to compete. Hopefully, our underclassmen can build on that.”

As the Colonel defense began to tire as the game wore on, the Falcons were able to hammer Wood’s goal mercilessly, scoring six more goals before the game ended. The Falcons, who spent most of the game deep in Wood’s territory, outshot Wood 19-1 in the second half.

“We were completely outclassed,” Colonel coach Jim Carden said. “This team has gone through so much this season, and to have to go out there tonight and just get beat down like that, we just couldn’t play with them.

“Their speed and their precision passing was just too much for us. But if you view the whole season and not just this game, I still say that it’s great day to be a James Wood Colonel.