Loudoun County Shuts Out Wood Girls’ Soccer, 3-0

Posted: March 25, 2015
By JOSH DORSEY
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Despite an astonishing 25 saves from senior goalkeeper Charlie Woods-Hulse, the James Wood Colonels lost to Loudoun County 3-0 at Jerry L. Kelican Stadium on Tuesday night.

Three first-half goals proved more than enough for the Raiders against James Wood, who did not manage a shot on net all night.

Ironically, the Colonels opened the game with the first threatening opportunity by earning a corner kick that was safely defended by Loudoun County before getting close to the net. The Colonels never got a shot on goal the rest of the way.

Loudoun County (2-0, 1-0 Conference 21) responded with three scoring opportunities by its speedy front line, mostly from sophomore forward Allyson Brown (two goals) and help from junior midfielder Malorie Joseph and freshman defender Caitlin Moon joining the Raiders’ attack from the back line.

In the seventh minute however, it was a surprising shot from distance that scored the first goal off the right foot of senior midfielder Gabby Gillis.

“I was expecting more pressure on her,” Woods-Hulse said. “It was the first couple of minutes and it caught me off guard.”

Unfortunately for the Colonels (0-1, 0-1 Conference 21), the first-half frustrations were only beginning in the seventh minute.

“We played lackluster the first half,” said James Wood coach Jim Carden. “The lack of heart we had in the first half was triple with the amount of heart we played with in the second half. Of course Charlie, our keeper, is unreal. We had people out of position. It was our first game out. They are the best team that we are probably going to face. I was happy with the second half. The first half we were sleepwalking. I did see a lot of good stuff. Last year we came on at the end, and we will again. We played four freshmen [Olivia Pettler, Abigail Duck, Abbey Esparza and Katelyn High] tonight and that helps us with depth.”

After three scoring opportunities alone in the first 20 minutes, Brown got on the board for the Raiders in the 24th minute to make it 2-0.

Brilliant goaltending by Woods-Hulse kept the Colonels within two while Woods-Hulse got peppered throughout, racking up 12 saves in the first half.

“I’ve had a game where I had a lot of saves,” Woods-Hulse said. “That was a good game but I don’t think I’ve ever had a 25-save game, this is pretty big. It gets frustrating when people don’t listen to me. The most frustrating is when people don’t shift and it ends up me being one-on-one. I think in the second half we played really well. We communicated much better.”

In the 40th minute just before the halftime whistle blew, Loudoun County added its third goal when Brown picked her way through several defenders and sent a shot across the mouth of the goal and into the corner of the net for her second score of the match.

Perhaps the only thing more impressive than Woods-Hulse’s performance in the first half was that she was able to keep the Raiders off the board in the second half even though much of the play remained on James Wood’s side of the field.

“It was good to get the feel for the goal,” Woods-Hulse said. “The second half I was having fun but in the first I was pretty frustrated. All the goals that were shot on me and made kind of breaks me down, but I just built myself back up. This is probably the best team we are going to face.”

Woods-Hulse’s value to the team and her effort on Tuesday night did not go unnoticed by her head coach, who was seemingly overwhelmed by the stunning performance.

“She was second team all-Conference 21 last season and she’s just unbelievable,” Carden said. “But we can’t rely on her. We have to play better. She gave us everything we needed tonight. She erases a lot of our mistakes. We aren’t going to make as many mistakes.”