James Wood outlasts Hanover in penalty kicks to make Class 4 title game

CROZET — Been there, done that.

That’s the attitude the James Wood High School girls’ soccer team took into the pressure-packed penalty kick shootout against Hanover on Friday afternoon in the Class 4 semifinals.

The Colonels had good reason, having gone to penalty kicks just three days earlier against Woodgrove in the quarterfinals.

And the result was virtually the same.

Avery Wright booted in the clinching penalty kick to touch off a joyous and tear-filled celebration as James Wood won the shootout 4-2 following a 1-1 tie through regulation and overtime.

The Colonels (17-1-3) advance to face John Champe (18-2-2), at 2-0 semifinal winner over Jamestown, in the Class 4 title game at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at Western Albemarle High School.

“We’re all in tears, just happy tears right now,” said senior McKenna Newcome, who connected on one of the penalty kicks. “We’ve been working for this moment and to get it in that way with PK’s and to keep fighting throughout the whole entire game ... getting scored on early and having to fight back, this group is special. We play together and play for each other. With all of the adversity we’ve gone through this season, we’re really a big family and I’m proud of us.”

It was just Tuesday that James Wood and Woodgrove needed penalty kicks (4-3) to decide a contest that was tight throughout and the similarities were striking.

Like Tuesday, the Colonels were first up in the shootout and they missed their first attempt. But unlike Tuesday, they never trailed in this one as keeper Alaynah McGuire dove to her right to smother the Hawks’ first attempt.

The Colonels’ Jolie Jenkins (left corner) and Maddie Heustis (off the keeper’s fingers into the left corner) made their kicks as did Hanover’s Lucy Harrington and Ava Olson to make it 2-2 after three rounds.

Newcome tucked a shot in to make it 3-2 and then the Colonels got a break as the Hawks' Samantha Krines hit the left post.

That set the stage for Wright to clinch it and she did. Hanover keeper Kendall Wright had no chance to save the perfectly placed shot to her left.

“The pressure was real,” said Avery Wright. “But, once again I knew we just had to do it for everything that we’ve come through this year — through all of the adversity, all of the practices preseason and through the entire season, all of past overtimes and everyone surrounding us. It was so important to get that win.”

Wright, whose boot was also the difference against Woodgrove, said that experience helped on Friday. “I had it in my mind I could do it,” the sophomore midfielder said. “I knew I was going to stick to the same corner. I tried to calm down, relax and place it.”

“We have a game plan and we work on it at practice,” Newcome said of the shootout. “Just having that [game against Woodgrove], we’re like, ‘We’ve got this. We’ve been here before. We’ve been through overtimes before.’ I think even through the overtimes we had some confidence, ‘Alright, we’re prepared for this moment. We can do it.’”

The Colonels were fortunate to get it to the overtime as they had to play catch-up nearly the entire game.

On Hanover’s first shot of the game, Lucy Harrington tucked a ball in the upper left corner to give the Hawks the 1-0 lead just 3:46 into the contest.

“We kind of got a little behind early and we were not playing like we should,” Colonels coach Donavan Russell said. “We gave up the goal and it was a good shot. But, this is the way our last six games have felt. We’re never out of it. … It’s an incredible feeling to have.”

“It kills your momentum a little bit, but I feel like we did a good job of, ‘Alright, it happened, let’s move on,’” Newcome said falling behind. “… We kept our heads up and kept fighting.”

With Newcome distributing and Jenkins pushing the pace, the Colonels did have several opportunities in the first half, but Kendall Wright came up with a couple of big saves and a couple of other shots were just high or wide.

The Hawks (16-4-1) controlled play at the start of the second half, but the Colonels began to exert pressure from there. Maddy Shirley, on a nice feed from Jenkins, just missed over the crossbar six minutes into the half and Newcome was just high on a free kick at the 31-minute mark.

“They did a really good job of cutting off the angles,” Newcome said of the Hawks. “We like to look for a lot of through balls. In the second half especially, it was hard to find those through balls. We had to adjust a little bit to playing feet instead of through as much.”

As the clock wound down to under 10 minutes, the Colonels kept the ball in the Hanover end and persistence paid off. Not long after Kendall Wright saved a Jenkins shot, the Colonels got the equalizer. Newcome crossed the ball to Sloane Ferrebee who fired a shot at the Hanover goal. Kendall Wright moved to the right to try to make a save, but the ball deflected off of one of the Hawks’ defenders and behind her to tie the score at 1-1 with 5:18 on the clock.

“We had a couple of headers and a couple of corner kicks there late,” Russell said. “We had some good looks. … Sloane just had a good looking shot. I joked in the huddle that we will even borrow one of [Hanover’s] players to help do it together.”

Kendall Wright was forced to make a diving save on Newcome at the end of regulation as the teams headed to the first 10-minute overtime. Hanover had the best opportunities in that period, with McGuire making a key save.

In the 10-minute golden goal overtime, it was the Colonels who dominated. Newcome fired just right at the end of the first five-minute period. Jenkins had a late header that was wide just before time ran out.

The Colonels took a little bit of that momentum into penalty kicks, while Russell sensed the Hawks were angry.

“When we were going to the center line their with the ref, they looked more and more tired and more and more aggravated they didn’t seal this thing off,” he said. “Our girls just don’t do that. We just stay focused. ‘Hey, we’re going to do it. We’re going to win and we’re going to do this together.’”

Next up for James Wood is John Champe. The Knights scored twice in the final 20 minutes to knock off Jamestown. John Champe has not lost since April 3 and is 15-0-1 since that 1-0 defeat against Lightridge.

"I watched a little bit of them this week coming in and watched them here," Russell said. "They are a good looking team. They are strong, athletic and fast. It will be a fun game tomorrow."

James Wood, a first-time region champion this season, is in uncharted territory having never played for a state title.

“I think it’s been a little bit of fate helping us to get us where we are together,” Avery Wright said. “I would say, yes, [it’s] destiny, but it’s working hard, working together, pushing through and fighting.”

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