Handley girls' net 1-0 victory over James Wood

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI | The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — As first career varsity goals go, they don’t get much better than this.

Junior defender Hailey Burke scored from 25 yards away 12 minutes into the second half to give Handley a 1-0 victory over James Wood on Monday night at Kelican Stadium that locked up the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the Conference 21 West tournament that begins on Wednesday.

Burke’s a third-year varsity player, but scoring opportunities can be hard to come by when you’re playing in the back.

“It just means a lot,” said Burke, who actually missed Handley’s previous two games with a knee injury. “I’ve wanted a goal every year, and I’ve tried so hard.

“I gave my everything because it was my first game back, and I sealed it with a goal. It means the world.”

The Judges (10-5-1, 4-1 conference) — who also won the Northwestern District title with a 6-1-1 mark as a result of Monday’s win — will play the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 3 Sherando and No. 6 Harrisonburg at home in Friday’s semifinals.

As a result of a tiebreaker draw held before the game, the Colonels (7-7-1, 2-3 conference, 4-3 district) could have wrapped up that bye had they won Monday, but they will now host No. 5 Millbrook at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Missing from Monday’s action was two of the area’s best forwards in Handley’s Emma Ricci (20 goals, six assists) and Kaylah Gankiewicz (nine goals, eight assists, red card vs. Skyline on Friday), but each team played well in their attempts to ease their postseason path.

James Wood — which won the first matchup between these two teams 2-0 on April 20 — pressed hard for the equalizer after Burke’s well-placed blast into the left panel of the goal.

But the Judges limited James Wood’s opportunities down the stretch, with a couple of shots by Colonel leading scorer Katie Padgett (24 goals) sailing just to the left of the goal in the 56th minute and the 70th minute.

The Colonels finished with an 8-7 shot edge for the game, with the Judges’ Amanda Kesler making three saves to post her fourth shutout.

“We all pulled together and worked together as a team tonight,” Burke said. “Communication is the key on defense, and we had a lot of that tonight. And if someone saw someone wasn’t coming back, they covered for that person.”

Handley coach John Lynch said Burke’s goal was an example of how the Judges believe all of their players are capable of making things happen offensively.

“This is the third goal we’ve got this year from an outside back who’s come into an advance position,” Lynch said. “Anybody on our team can score at any given point.

“It’s all about our shape, creating opportunities, and finding the right possession that’s going to get us those opportunities. Tonight, I thought we did a nice job of that.”

James Wood senior defender Neary Casebolt said the Colonels were too slow to react to Burke’s shot. Overall, she felt the Judges played with more energy, which she hopes the Colonels can rectify Wednesday.

“We have to raise the intensity and passion for sure,” Casebolt said.

James Wood had other opportunities besides the second-half shots from Padgett — Madison Myers hit the crossbar 25 minutes into the game — but Carden said Burke’s goal made James Wood’s situation much tougher.

“They got one, and that’s all they needed,” Carden said. “They packed it in, and we might have done the same thing had we scored first. We tried to penetrate, and still had some chances, but that’s the way it goes.

“Handley did what they had to do, and they played well. And we just ran out of gas with so few subs. It’s amazing we’ve gotten this far without three starters because of knee injuries.”

Abby Duck, Audrey Hottle and Chloe White were all lost within the first five games or so of the season after having knee surgeries. But White did take the field on crutches to start the game on James Wood’s senior day. Handley sent the kickoff out-of-bounds, and White was subbed out.

“Our kids played their hearts out and gave me everything they had, and I can’t ask for anything more,” Carden said. “I was glad I was able to get Chloe out there, but it’s too bad her year ended so soon. She had a fantastic start.”

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