Padgett leads James Wood girls to win over Handley

By JIM LAISE SPECIAL TO THE WINCHESTER STAR | The Winchester Star

March 27, 2018

WINCHESTER — Veteran James Wood High School girls’ soccer coach Jim Carden put the game in junior Katie Padgett’s hands — and feet — Monday afternoon and the Colonels came away with a 2-1 Northwestern District decision over rival Handley at James R. Wilkins Jr. Stadium.

Padgett, a returning all-conference player for the Colonels (1-3, 1-1 district), netted a pair of goals in the second half as James Wood overcame a 1-0 deficit against Handley (1-1, 0-1). She also played defense in the win.

“She scored both our goals, missed [a] penalty kick, but that’s OK,” Carden said. “Then we swung her around on the backline to help us on defense.

“Handley’s good,” Carden said more than once. “I think this will help us for the rest of the season.”

The Judges, the three-time defending champs in the Northwestern District, played without several members who were away on spring break.

Emma Ricci, the team’s leading scorer last season, was shaken up when she and a James Wood player collided at about the 15-minute mark of the first half. Ricci was ushered from the field and taken to the team’s locker room at halftime.

“She took a blow and we thought it would be best to hold her out for the remainder of the game,” said Handley coach John Lynch, who also was without goal-scorer Madelyn Duffy, who suffered from a leg problem. Duffy came out for the final 11:15 of the match, but remained in uniform on the Judges’ sideline.

“Well, Emma was our leading scorer last year (22 goals), but we also had 10 other girls who scored for us, so it wasn’t like losing Emma was the end of our offense,” Lynch said. “We had others who can score, too.”

Even though the first half ended 0-0, Handley took the measure of the shots. The Judges had a 9-5 edge in shots.

Duffy got the scoring going in the second half in the 44th minute. The senior slipped inside the Colonels’ defense to give Handley a 1-0 lead.

Within seconds, though, Padgett answered back to tie the match 1-1.

“That was big,” Carden said. “That showed our girls we could come back.”

Padgett scored again in the 62nd minute to put the Colonels up one. She also had a penalty kick in the 76th minute, but was stopped by Handley goalkeeper Amanda Kesler (three saves).

The Judges attempted several shots inside the two-minute mark, but with Padgett at the command the Colonels defense played inspired soccer. James Wood freshman keeper Sadie Kerns had nine saves.

“It’s a big deal to come over here and play goalie as a freshman,” Kerns said. “I’ve been playing a while, so it’s not all new, but winning here is exciting.”

Lynch lauded Duffy, Maddie Painter, Kendall Felix and Kathryn Ellington for putting pressure on the James Wood wings, but he said the Judges needed to figure out other ways to move the ball toward the goal.

Handley finished with a 16-13 edge in shots.

“We had a few out today but that’s no excuse,” Lynch said. “Give James Wood credit. We might have fought some mental fatigue with a few of our regulars out, but we’ll learn from this and go on.”