Jenkins' early hat trick fuels James Wood's soccer win over Handley

WINCHESTER — Jolie Jenkins didn’t have the ball on her feet very long in the first 12 minutes of Friday’s key Class 4 Northwestern District girls’ soccer clash against Handley.

But, she certainly knew what to do with it when she had it.

Jenkins scored three quick goals and Handley never got closer as the Colonels rolled to a 5-1 rout at Kelican Stadium.

Olivia Walker and Sidney Rathel also scored and McKenna Newcome dished out three assists as James Wood (9-0, 5-0) controlled the play against the Judges (5-1-1, 3-1-1).

“It meant a lot to us because we knew it was going to be one of our hardest games,” said Jenkins of the importance of the triumph. “It was great that we got a win.”

“It’s a really big win for us,” added Colonels coach Donavan Russell. “The girls know. The coaches know. I’m an old James Wood-Handley guy, so that was always a big rivalry. They know I’ve got it circled, so we really come prepared.”

The fans, who waited out a 30-minute weather delay before the game, had barely started to warm up their bleacher seats before the Colonels struck. Newcome threaded a pass through to Jenkins, who outraced a Handley defender. Jenkins took the time to size up Judges keeper Emma Westfall before firing a shot into the left corner just 31 seconds into the contest.

“She makes fantastic runs from up top,” Russell said of Jenkins, a freshman. “She seals off that defender. I don’t know if she does it naturally or if she’s been trained that way. She kind of slides in and sneaks in. With Sidney, McKenna and Olivia giving her the ball, they just know where she’s going to be when they slot those balls through.”

Jenkins was right back at it less than four minutes later. Walker made a nice run down the left side and crossed the ball to Jenkins in the middle for another score.

Less than eight minutes later, Newcome made the run down the left side and fed Jenkins, who left-footed it into the right corner to make it 3-0 less than 12 minutes into the contest.

“We came into this game knowing it was going to be our hardest,” Walker said. “… We always know that Handley is big competition and so we knew we had to start fast and come out quick with them.”

Russell said he had some bad memories from the Judges’ last trip to Kelican and Friday’s start put those to rest.

“All day long we were thinking about this game, wondering how the game was going to go early,” he said. “It was going to be a battle. Last time we played them here, they scored on us in six minutes. This start was just amazing. I hoped it would start that way but I wasn’t expecting it.”

Jenkins’ hat trick pushed her to 17 goals on the season.

“We work down the sidelines and try to get a cross in,” Walker said. “She’s always there to finish it.”

“I’m just working hard for the ball and being confident in myself to score,” Jenkins said when asked how she is piling up goals.

Handley coach Haleigh Echard obviously was disappointed in how the Judges fell behind early.

“I think mentally we were not fully focused on the task at hand of playing James Wood,” Echard said. “I think a lot of times we get within ourselves when we see them. After those first five minutes, we settled in and were finding our groove, but I think we need to figure that out sooner.”

Indeed the Judges settled down and the play was even for the rest of the first half. The Judges controlled the ball more toward the end of the half, but could not crack the James Wood defense. The Colonels led 3-0 at the break.

Handley immediately put pressure on the Colonels to open the half, but keeper Sami Stevens made a couple of key saves to keep the Judges off the board.

James Wood then got a break when Walker made a run down the right side and fired a cross to the middle that caromed off a Handley defender and into the net to make it 4-0 about seven minutes into the half.

“We told them at halftime that they are going to come back strong on us like they always do,” Russell said. “We had a couple of close calls and then we kind of got moving again.”

Stevens stopped a blast by Mikayla Balio before the Judges finally got on the board. Following a corner kick, Taylor Roark won control of the ball and fired a shot into the right corner with 21:40 left in the game.

Echard liked the way her team continued to scrap after falling behind.

“Facing adversity this season, we haven’t had a ton of it,” she said. “Seeing them still wanting to communicate, still fighting for the ball and still working for each other is definitely a positive.”

James Wood tacked on one more goal with just over 14 minutes left. Newcome fed Rathel, who muscled past a Handley defender and booted a left-footed shot into the left corner.

For Newcome, it was her 12th assist of the season.

“Her touch is amazing,” Russell said of Newcome. “Everything starts with her touch. It’s a great game plan — we get the ball to McKenna in the middle. Her touch is so good and she’s so quick off that first touch.”

Aside from the offensive fireworks, Walker felt the Colonels played their best defensive game and Russell agreed citing Brooke Geary, Stevens (six saves), Lydia Watson and Sloane Ferrebee for outstanding play.

“Today was brilliant,” he said. “Handley has got some good goal scorers and we just shut them down.”

The two squads will meet again on May 5. Echard says she expects her squad to rebound from Friday’s loss. “We had some positive moments,” she said. “There’s some things we’ll fix defensively as well. … If everything is all peachy keen and the road is always flat, you don’t learn anything.”

Walker says the Colonels hope to build from the big win.“It’s definitely a confidence booster but we know we have to work hard the rest of the season,” the senior forward said. “We know have a lot of other games that are big and we are prepared for, but it’s definitely a lot for us to win this game.”

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