Motivated James Wood girls net playoff victory

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI | The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — A public announcement of 11-year-head coach Jim Carden’s retirement, and a chance for the senior class to record its first 10-win season in the opening round of the postseason?

The James Wood girls’ soccer team had all the motivation in the world to excel in Friday’s Class 4 Northwestern District first round game, and they went out and dominated.

Katie Padgett recorded a hat trick to lead fourth-seeded James Wood to a 3-1 win over No. 5 Liberty in a driving rainstorm at Handley High School.

The Colonels (10-7) had opportunities to win by an even greater margin, but they were never in danger. Padgett scored the first of her three goals five minutes in the game. And James Wood outshot Liberty 11-3 and took seven corner kicks to the Eagles’ one in the first half to take a 2-0 lead. The Colonels extended the lead to 3-0 on Padgett’s third goal in the 45th minute.

The retirement of the 76-year-old Carden — who also coached for 12 years as Handley’s boys’ coach from 1994-2005 — was announced over the loudspeaker before the game. Padgett said Carden informed the team of his decision on Tuesday during halftime of the Colonels’ game with Fauquier, but the public announcement added another level of inspiration.

“[That announcement] gave us so much motivation,” said Padgett, who scored at least two goals in all three of James Wood’s wins against Liberty this year. “We owe it to him, after all he’s given us for practice and games, to go far in this tournament and make his last year great.”

The Colonels (10-7) will try and keep their run going in next week’s semifinals, which were originally scheduled for Tuesday but could be changed to a different date. James Wood will take on No. 1 Kettle Run (13-1) in the semifinals. The Cougars had a first round bye.

What Carden was most happy about on Tuesday was that his senior class, which includes Olivia Pettler, Katelyn High, Abby Duck and Abbey Esparza, finally earned a 10-win season after finishing with nine victories each of the previous three years.

“We created a lot of good things today, and that’s all you can ask,” Carden said. “You’ve got to finish, but at least you create those opportunities.”

James Wood also defeated Liberty (4-11-1) 2-1 on April 10 and 5-0 on May 8. Padgett scored two goals in each of those games, and had two assists in the 5-0 win.

On Friday, Padgett — who leads the area in assists with 18 — said James Wood’s strong team play repeatedly helped produce opportunities for her and her teammates.

“We were getting lots of triangle passes, crisp passes, one-touch,” said Padgett, who increased her goal total to 23. “The second half we kind of got complacent, but we kept up what we were doing and maintained the win.”

Padgett finished her hat trick in the 45th minute. Padgett won a 50-50 ball with Liberty goalkeeper Megan Fiel (seven saves) in the penalty box by pushing the ball to the right. She then cut it back left and lined the ball high into the net to make it 3-0.

“What she does with two or three people watching her all the time, it’s unbelievable what she does,” Carden said. “I think she’s prouder for the [18] assists than the goals.”

In the 61st minute, Liberty finally got on the board when Madison Harmon sent in a rebound off a ball that Carden said was knocked off the right post by one of his own players. The Eagles did not register another shot over the last 19 minutes, as James Wood finished with a 16-6 edge.

In the fifth minute of the first half, Padgett ran onto a through ball from Maddie Myers into the penalty box and calmly knocked the ball in for a 1-0 lead.

The Colonels took a 2-0 lead after a ball was crossed into the box. Liberty was unable to clear it, and Padgett fired in a shot from 15 yards out in the 31st minute.

The Eagles had their best chance to score in the half one minute later. Bre Duncan had a wide-open shot from the top of the 18, but Sadie Kerns (three saves) parried Duncan’s blast over the top of the goal.

James Wood will now turn its attention to Kettle Run. The Cougars swept the season series, winning by the scores of 4-2 and 2-1.

“We need to play a lot better than we did today to match up to their level and beat them,” Padgett said. “But I think we can do it.”

E

Carden compiled a record of 78-90-17 with James Wood. The Colonels won their first-ever Northwestern District championship in 2014, when he was named the Coach of the Year for the district. Prior to that, Carden was the coach at Handley, where he had a career record of 184-45-9 from 1994-2005 as the boys’ coach. His teams won seven Northwestern District titles and six Region II titles. The director of Winchester United since 1999, Carden has 44 years of coaching experience.

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1