James Wood girls power past Sherando for another rivalry sweep

STEPHENS CITY — With a school-record 14 wins, the James Wood girls’ soccer team’s 2019 season was one for the ages, but area supremacy proved difficult to achieve — the Colonels went 3-3 against longtime district powers Handley and Sherando and fell to the Judges in the district title game.

If there was any doubt as to who the team to beat is in Winchester/Frederick County this year, it was made a lot clearer on Thursday night.

The Colonels defeated Sherando 5-0 at Arrowhead Stadium to give James Wood (7-0) a season sweep of both the Warriors (4-4) and the Judges, a monumental feat for a program that until 2014 had never had a winning season.

The Colonels have yet to face surging Kettle Run (5-2 with five straight wins heading into Friday night), but James Wood has been relentless during a season in which it has outscored its foes by an aggregate 33-4 and posted five shutouts.

The Colonels beat Sherando 6-0 in their first matchup on May 6. After an evenly played start to the game, James Wood played at a superior level to the Warriors once junior Olivia Walker (two goals, one assist) opened the scoring Thursday. She finished from eight yards out in the 27th minute following a perfect through pass from freshman center midfielder McKenna Newcome (one goal) near the top of the penalty box.

“We definitely knew [Sherando was] going to come out hard,” Walker said. “I think this game was definitely a lot harder and more challenging than the last one, and we just fought ‘til the end for it.”

After receiving a ball from senior forward Katelyn Mounts (one goal), Newcome blasted a shot that from the top of the penalty box semi-circle that hopped once and went inside the right post in the final minute of the first half to make it 2-0.

The Colonels kept building from there against a Sherando team that was without the services of talented center midfielder Ella Sampsell (four goals). James Wood outshot Sherando 14-4 after halftime, with the Warriors’ Hannah Webber forced to make eight of her 12 saves, many of which required a extraordinary effort to keep the ball out of the net. James Wood goalkeeper Sadie Kerns (three saves) wasn’t tested much in the second half.

James Wood coach Donavan Russell said his team simply played its game to continue its impressive winning streak.

“We’re at the point of the season where we’ve played almost everybody, so it’s more of a focus on what we do,” Russell said. “We asked our [defensive midfielders] to be really cautious in the middle in front of the 18 because of [Sherando standout] Kendall Lincoln, and they did.

“Our girls, game in and game out, have just done what they’ve been asked to do, done what they know to do. It’s a fun team. Coming in here, we knew what [Sherando was] going to throw at us, and just decided to play the best game we could.”

The Colonels had a couple of quality chances early but still had just three shots in the first 27 minutes.

Donavan said James Wood did a good job of playing balls to each other’s feet toward the latter part of the first half, and Newcome’s pass to Walker was an example of the excellent chemistry within the team’s attack. James Wood has six players who have between five and 19 points.

“We like to keep the ball a lot,” Newcome said. “I think all of our players just work really well together and that slowly grinds down teams. I think we really started to do that, and we got chances off of it.”

Newcome (six goals, seven assists) is tied with Mounts (six goals, seven assists) behind Walker (10 goals, nine assists) in individual points, and her play-making and finishing late in the first half certainly set James Wood up well for the second half. She is the team’s only freshman.

“The really neat thing about McKenna is how hard she works at home, and how hard she’s worked her whole life at soccer,” Russell said. “It really shows when she comes out here. Her soccer IQ is fantastic and her touch on the ball is amazing. I think all that work she does on her own makes that touch just superb.

“As a young player, the sky’s the limit for her, because she is so polished even now, and she’s going to work harder. She never quits.”

That was the case for James Wood’s entire attack. Sidney Rathel assisted Walker in the 48th minute, Mounts scored after winning a 50-50 ball following a Walker pass in the 58th minute, and Maddy Milburn scored off an Ella Myers assist in the 75th minute.

Defensively, Kerns made a big save in the 13th minute on a long shot while looking into the sun for her biggest stop. Russell praised the defensive contributions of Julia Watts, Abigail Ensogna, Grace Hawkins, Anna Woodson and Olivia Duck throughout the game.

Despite the loss, Sherando coach Ron Kilmer felt his team learned a lot about itself. Kilmer said one thing that stood out during the game was moving Brigid Campbell from defense to center midfield, because he felt she played outstanding.

“We lost to a good team,” Kilmer said. “It’s good to test ourselves against a good team. We took some lumps and some younger girls made some mistakes, and it cost us. You learn from that, and you correct it now. Hopefully we get better for the [district] tournament [on June 1].”

James Wood is looking forward to doing everything it can to make the rest of the season a memorable one.

“Having 10 seniors, we know it’s their last season, so we’re all working hard together,” Walker said. “We know that being undefeated doesn’t really mean anything right now. We still have to work hard and keep trying.”

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