Millbrook Girls’ Soccer Blanks James Wood, 2-0

Posted: May 11, 2015
By JOSH DORSEY
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Millbrook broke a scoreless tie with James Wood with a pair of second-half goals in a 2-0 Conference 21 and Northwestern District girls’ soccer victory to sweep the regular-season series from their Frederick County rivals on Saturday.

Millbrook created the opportunities that Pioneers coach Matt Cottino was looking for in the second half. Those opportunities came after Cottino put sophomore Nicole Taylor in at midfield in the 47th minute.

Almost immediately, Taylor made a huge impact, breaking the scoreless tie and firing a shot past James Wood goalkeeper Charlie Woods-Hulse (seven saves).

“It was a great ball that worked its way from the defense up to Casey [Ackerman], who had a perfect ball,” Taylor said. “All I remember was colliding with the defender and hoping to put it in for my team. That’s the boost we needed so I’m glad I could do that for my team.”

“Finally in that second half we got a little spark going,” Cottino said. “I made a sub and it was literally two minutes after I put Nicole in that she put a goal in. I knew Lauren [Parker] was getting a little tired so I made the move to put Nicole in. She’s left footed so I put her on the right side and she set her left foot up real nice for that goal. I thought that was exactly what we needed.”

It was clear after Taylor’s goal that the Pioneers (7-6 overall, 3-3 conference, 3-2 district) grabbed momentum and played with confidence while James Wood had to change its game plan to create more offensive opportunities.

“I think it really fired us up,” Ackerman said. “It was the spark that we needed. The defense was doing their job so it was nice for our offense to help them out.”

The goal forced Carden to be more aggressive to create chances against a stout Millbrook defense.

“The first goal — who knows what happened because it was near post and near post it’s not supposed to go in,” said Carden. “But we didn’t cover the near post. We went down 1-0 so we moved our center back up so we only had one. Then they got the second goal.”

Millbrook’s second goal came from Ackerman, who the Pioneers are happy to have back from an injury for the final stretch of the season.

In the 65th minute, Ackerman got past a James Wood defender on a breakaway and beat Woods-Hulse in a one-on-one situation.

“Nicole [Taylor] played back like she was supposed to,” said Ackerman. “I made a lucky run and she found me, she played a really great ball.”

During the first half, the Pioneers controlled possession but only registered one opportunity. Just three minutes into the match, Lauren Parker sent a corner in that found the head of Taylor Hicks but the ball went just wide of the net.

Other than that early opportunity from Hicks, Millbrook had trouble breaking down the Colonels’ defense despite winning a large part of possession.

“Their defense did a great job,” said Millbrook senior Casey Ackerman. “They have two really strong players in the box — so kudos to them — they did really well. James Wood is aggressive and they do a really good job defending me and everybody.”

While Millbrook was controlling possession, James Wood (5-7 overall, 2-4 conference and district) tried to take advantage of its counterattack abilities to create quick opportunities.

The quick counter attacks paid off for the Colonels in the 29th minute. Alex Stanford received a ball at midfield and flicked it on to a streaking Neary Casebolt, who was one-on-one with Millbrook keeper Laken Nordin before being tackled from behind to earn a penalty kick.

Stanford took the penalty kick, the first of the season for the Colonels, but she didn’t appear to hit the ball cleanly and it trickled wide of the left post.

“Unfortunately we missed it,” Carden said. “Who knows if that would have changed the game but it would have given us momentum. But missing penalties, that stuff happens.”

“It was a hard challenge,” said Millbrook coach Matt Cottino. “I got a little nervous there. I just kept my confidence in my keeper. I told her to pick her side and she did. It was an opportunity that they didn’t capitalize on. I told them at halftime that they had their opportunity now it’s time to get ours.”

James Wood’s penalty kick opportunity was the most dangerous opportunity from either team in scoreless first half.

“I thought they played well in spurts,” Cottino said. “In the beginning we possessed the ball a lot better. But then we started to get a little tired so I was making some moves around. I was making sure to keep them healthy because it was hot out here.”

With James Woods’ inability to break down the Millbrook defense, Ackerman’s goal sealed the victory for the Pioneers and left both teams looking forward to the final week of the regular season before the playoffs begin.

Millbrook will face Northwestern District rivals Sherando and Handley in the final week.

“Losing to both Handley and Sherando, I think our girls are really ready to fight back because they weren’t happy with the results of those first games,” Cottino said. “All these games are important so they have to keep working hard.”

Despite the loss, Carden took a lot of positives from his team’s performance before moving on to try to make some noise in the postseason.

“Looking at all of our losses, if you take the two Sherando and Loudoun County out of there, we are in every game,” Carden said. “Our first four games we were really playing pretty well and then we really just dropped off and then we got people hurt and out. The continuity just hasn’t come together. I think today was a good day. It’s a step forward.”