James Wood girls top Woodgrove in penalty kick shootout

WINCHESTER — In what has become a season of firsts and a magical ride that most won't soon forget, the James Wood girls' soccer team achieved another feat on Tuesday that everyone will remember for a very long time.

After winning the first region title in program history last week, the Colonels won in the state tournament for the first time ever by beating Region 4C runner-up Woodgrove in a penalty kick shootout on Tuesday in the Class 4 quarterfinals at Kelican Stadium.

After 80 minutes of regulation ended in a 1-1 tie and a scoreless 20 minutes of overtime, the Colonels (shooting first) and Wolverines were still deadlocked after the first four rounds of the five-round penalty kick competition.

With the penalty kicks tied 3-3, it came down to James Wood sophomore Avery Wright to give the Colonels the lead for the first time in the shootout. Wright scored the biggest goal of her young career when she beat the Woodgrove keeper in the lower left corner of the net.

When Woodgrove's Mia Smith missed her kick left of the goal, James Wood secured the 1-1 (4-3 penalty kicks) victory, and the Colonels and their crowd erupted into a wild celebration following the program's first home state tournament game.

The Colonels (16-1-3) advance to Friday's 3 p.m. semifinals, where they will meet the Region 4B champion Hanover, a 4-0 quarterfinal winner over Smithfield. The game will be played at Western Albemarle High School in Crozet.

James Wood lost to Western Albemarle on the road in last year's state quarterfinals, which was the first state tourney game in program history.

"I was like I need to do this for everyone that's been a part of our journey, the team, the town," said Wright of her game-winner. "I thought, 'I just need to calm down and connect so we can get the win and move on.

"This is so great. We're the first ones to ever win [in the state tournament]. Immediate joy [when Smith missed her kick]. I was like, 'Yes, we did it. We just did that. We're super excited and we're ready [for the semifinals]. Ready to do whatever it takes."

James Wood coach Donavan Russell was ecstatic.

"Just a monumental win," Russell said. "Just the heart of this team ... they've been playing like this the last five games. They never feel like they're out of it. They were gonna grind it out and get the win."

The penalty kicks didn't start out well for James Wood. After the first round the Colonels were down 1-0 but the next four shooters converted. Jolie Jenkins made it 1-1, Maddie Heustis made it 2-2 and McKenna Newcome made it 3-3. Woodgrove's Kamryn Harper hit the crossbar in the fourth round to leave the score tied 3-3, and set the stage for Wright's game winner.

The two teams were locked in a defensive battle that went scoreless for nearly 70 minutes before the Colonels finally broke through with a goal.

Newcome picked up a loose ball on the Woodgrove side of the field just past midfield. She took a couple of dribbles and delivered a perfect pass to Jenkins flying to the net. Jenkins buried a shot just out of the Woodgrove keeper's reach to the lower left side of the net for a 1-0 lead with 10:47 left.

Woodgrove (8-8-4) had an immediate response. Just under two minutes later, Smith gathered a loose ball just in front of the Wood net and was able to beat James Wood keeper Alaynah McGuire to the upper right of the net to tie the score 1-1 with 9:07 to play.

In Newcome's storybook career, she rates this win pretty high.

"In my high school career we're never gone to PKs," she said. "We've never gotten past this [round], so to win this here, with these girls, I'm super excited," Newcome said. "We just keep picking up the momentum, we keep going, keep fighting. We knew we were in it so we just had to keep working [to win this game]."

With everything that was on the line, Newcome said one of the goals was a nice birthday gift for McGuire, who was celebrating her birthday. The team sang for the freshman after the game. Russell noted that McGuire started diving in the same direction the shot was headed on the final PK.

"She has so much poise," Newcome said. "I can't speak enough about her."

Russell said it wasn't easy seeing the team's lead go away so quick in regulation, but he liked his team's response to the situation.

"I'm just so proud of this team," he said. "They've given everything they've got."