Patriots Avenge Loss To James Wood, 3-1

Posted: April 16, 2014
By KEVIN TRUDGEON
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — It took the Shenandoah Valley Christian Academy girls’ soccer team nearly 140 minutes of game time to break through against James Wood.

But once they did, the Patriots pounced on the opportunity.

After getting run off the field in a 3-0 loss to the Colonels in their first meeting, SVCA looked better out of the gate the second time around but still trailed 1-0 midway through the second half Tuesday.

Needing some kind of spark to snap the offensive slump, the Patriots got on the scoreboard thanks to a pretty give-and-go play off a corner kick in the 58th minute and the flood gates opened from there.

SVCA scored three goals in the span of 14 minutes in the second half to hand James Wood a 3-1 loss at home in a game that was moved due to heavy rain throughout the day.

“I think we came out a little more like we didn’t have anything to lose,” said SVCA sophomore Grace Snyder. “We wanted to come out and play with intensity against a public school team, because as a private school team sometimes we’re a little bit shy around bigger schools. But after losing 3-0 to them the first time, we really didn’t have anything to lose this time out.”

The Patriots (8-4-2) certainly looked like the more aggressive team at times during the first half, and that intensity eventually paid off.

Taking a corner kick on the right side, Snyder, who is primarily a defender for SVCA, played a short pass to senior forward Megan Norton before darting towards the front of the goal, taking a pass from Norton and then firing a low shot that somehow eluded a sea of legs and snuck past James Wood goalkeeper Charlie Woods-Hulse to tie the game 1-1 with 22 minutes to play.

“We run that play almost every single game and we’ve been frustrated because we’ve gotten some good looks and just haven’t been able to [score off of it] this year,” Snyder said. “Either Megan gets the line because she’s a great ball-handler or I get the shot in the middle and I’m just happy it worked this time.”

While Snyder’s first goal seemed to energize her teammates, the second one made them believe they could come out with a win.

After a pair of close calls by James Wood (3-2-1) on the offensive end that could have seized momentum back — sophomore Abigail Lanham’s curling shot stayed just wide of the far post and fellow sophomore Emily Denton’s blast from left of the goal sailed just over the crossbar — the Patriots took control in the 69th minute.

Taking a free kick from just inside midfield, Snyder sent a high-arcing shot towards the middle of the Colonel penalty box.

Nobody managed to get on the receiving end of the shot and the ball took a high bounce off the ground and sailed over the outstretched hands of Woods-Hulse, who had come off her line, and into the back of the net.

Three minutes later, sophomore Abi Beaty sent a corner kick into the box and junior Hannah McGann managed to win a scrum in front of the net and punch a shot past Woods-Hulse that pushed the lead to 3-1 and elicited a roar from the small contingent of SVCA fans who had braved the cold, wet conditions.

“They beat us to the ball, they were the better team and better coached. We had no desire in the second half at all,” said James Wood coach Jim Carden. “Give them credit, they outplayed us. I’m supposed to have a team ready to play and they certainly weren’t ready [Tuesday].”

James Wood actually outshot SVCA 19-8 in the game, but junior goalie Kayla Phaneuf made nine saves and the Patriot defense, led by Snyder and junior Krista Freemire, managed to slow down the Colonel offense.

Sophomore Emily Denton scored off a nice pass from freshman Neary Casebolt in the 31st minute, cutting left to create space before firing a shot by Phaneuf, but that was the only goal James Wood would get.

“We wanted to really not allow [Denton] space early, because if she can turn and go she has a good touch, good speed and strength and obviously can hit the ball from distance,” said SVCA coach Dustin Wheelock.

“We didn’t do a great job in the first half, but I felt like in the second half we didn’t give her much breathing room.”

The win snaps a seven-game stretch that included three losses and two ties for the Patriots, and Wheelock is hoping it will boost his team’s confidence heading into homestretch of the regular season and the postseason.

“This was a really big win for us,” Wheelock said. “We’ve played some good teams this year and have been right there and gotten some ties, but it’s good to come in here and get a win, especially after they kind of ran all over us the first time. So it was nice for us to see some improvement and get the win.”

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