Girl's Soccer: Pioneers 3, Colonels 0

Posted: May 9, 2013
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Even though Millbrook forward Brooke Borlie scored the Pioneers’ first two goals in Wednesday night’s Northwestern District match against James Wood, she said her favorite part of the game was the opening minute.

That’s when injured seniors Bethany Ackerman and Jennifer Share — both out with knee injuries — made brief starts on Senior Night.

After the ball was kicked out of bounds, Ackerman made the throw-in and then exited the game along with Share.

It was a nice gesture of sportsmanship from Colonel coach Jim Carden’s club for two of the Pioneers’ seven seniors who were recognized prior to the start of the match.

Once the match resumed, it didn’t take Borlie long to show her senior leadership, scoring two goals in the first half, and freshman Lauren Parker added a late insurance goal off an assist from junior forward Holly Elko in a 3-0 victory over James Wood.

The Pioneers (11-3-1, 6-0-1) — who extended their unbeaten streak to nine games — clinched the regular season district title (and top seed for the district tournament along with a Region II tournament berth) and claimed the BRYSA Cup, which is awarded to the Winchester area team with the most outstanding season and record.

Borlie said seeing smiles from two of her best friends when they were back on the field in the final home game of the regular season meant a lot.

“That was the highlight of the game for me — being able to see them out on the field,” Borlie said. “It broke my heart seeing it happen, and I was right next to both of them when they got hurt [both tearing anterior cruciate ligaments earlier this year] so to see them out there and be so excited just to be on the field — it was just a beautiful moment.

“Bethany and Jen have worked so hard and they still come to every single practice. They’re still working out all of the time for the two hours we’re out there. It’s a shame that’s the representation of them on the field because they’re awesome players and it hurts us to not have them on the field because they’d be starting for us. But it was great to see them out there on Senior Night.”

And Borlie certainly wasted little time in her final home game of the regular season, needing just 12 minutes to put the Pioneers on top.

Junior defender Alysse Hamm sent a nice pass into the middle of the box to Borlie, who beat a Wood defender and then blasted the ball past Colonels goalkeeper Emily Woods-Hulse (four saves).

“Alysse won the ball in the back and she came up and beat a defender and had space, and I was just trying to find the gap [in the defense],” Borlie said. “She played a perfect ball and split the defenders and it couldn’t have been a better pass.”

Two minutes later, Borlie nearly added another goal on a breakaway but she sent her shot just wide.

Millbrook put a lot of pressure on the Colonels’ defense in the first half, outshooting Wood 8-3 in the first half (and 20-11 in the match), and Borlie added her second goal with just over three minutes left.

She worked her away around Wood’s defense, turned toward the goal and blasted a low shot into the back-left corner for her team-high 19th goal.

With afternoon showers and the threat of rain in the forecast, Millbrook coach Carter Smith said he told his players that they need to take the momentum away early after playing the Colonels to a scoreless draw on April 19.

“We wanted to come out strong because we weren’t sure about the weather,” Smith said. “Luckily [the sky] opened up for us, but we wanted to set the tone early and play our style. In the first half, we did that.”

The Colonels (4-8-2, 2-2-2) opened the second half strong, creating a couple quality scoring chances in the first 20 minutes.

Wood’s best chance came after freshman forward Emily Denton sent a nice pass into the center of the box to sophomore midfielder Alex Stanford, who sent her shot high over the crossbar in the 55th minute. Denton also had a chance on a header about eight minutes later, but she sent it right to Pioneer senior goalkeeper Liz Carty (nine saves).

“We made some adjustments in the second half and I thought they worked but we missed our shots early,” Carden said. “Then we sort of went [flat] and maybe that’s to Millbrook’s credit. Overall, I thought we played well. We played both keepers and played a lot of kids.

“I thought if we had scored in the second half early we were right back in the game. We have spurts where we look good and play hard and then we sort of take time off.”

Borlie credited the team’s defense for the Pioneers’ ninth shutout.

“Liz in goal played excellent,” Borlie said. “Our back four — Alysse [Hamm], Taylor [Hicks], Kortney [Teike] and Devan [Davis] — I can not say enough about them because they are the backbone of this team. They’re the reason why we win games.”

After playing the Pioneers to a scoreless draw in the first meeting, James Wood senior Emma Watts said Millbrook took the momentum early in a disappointing loss.

“It’s tough to come back after they get one ahead early because we have to then pick up our game and try to punch right back,” Watts said. “It’s frustrating to know that we could play much more solidly.”

The Colonels host Skyline tonight and then close the regular season at Handley on Monday. Carden said his team controls its own destiny in regard to the No. 2 seed for the district tournament.

“We know what we have to do — we have to win [tonight] and then win Monday,” Carden said. “That’s it. That will put us in second.”

James Wood freshman goalkeeper Leah Hancock played the entire second half, making eight saves.

— Contact Robert Stocks at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.