Girls' Soccer: Sherando 2, James Wood 0

By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star

Winchester — When Sherando High School midfielder Michael O’Connell recalled clearing James Wood forward Zach Lloyd’s long free kick off the goal line in first-half stoppage time Saturday, he admitted he was lucky to be in position because his man was making a run to the post.

The bottom line, though, is that Sherando’s mentality on plays like that one is a big reason the Warriors’ season is still alive.

O’Connell’s save kept the game scoreless heading into halftime, and it allowed the No. 2-seeded Warriors to assert themselves over the last 40 minutes and earn a 2-0 victory over No. 3 James Wood in the Northwestern District semifinals at Kelican Stadium. “Just taking care of each other,” Sherando coach Pat Anderson said. “Make sure we cover for each other. That’s we did today and it made a difference for us.”

The win clinches a second consecutive Region II tournament berth for the Warriors (7-6-3), who will take on No. 1 Handley in the district final at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the same location.

“[A Region II berth] was our goal at the beginning of the year — even though we lost so many [players from] last year,” said Anderson, whose team received goals from Graham Siegfried in the 44th minute and Josh Dennis in the 78th minute. “People didn’t think we could get back here, so for this group of kids to be able to do that is a big thing for us.”

James Wood (3-11-3) certainly made the Warriors sweat to get it.

The Colonels’ Spencer Marfing blasted a ball off the crossbar in the 15th minute, and defender Robert Strasbaugh made Sherando’s first critical defensive stop by knocking a ball away from Josh Marts in the box before he had a chance to shoot in the 32nd minute.

Less than eight minutes later, Lloyd played a free kick from midfield that flew over goalkeeper Zach Santmier’s head and bounced toward goal, but O’Connell, racing to the post, knocked it away.

Considering James Wood and Sherando combined for just five goals in three meetings this year, O’Connell (one assist) said a Colonels score there would have been tough to recover from.

Four minutes into the second half, James Wood found out just how tough coming back would be.

After initially looking like he would shoot when a ball popped out to him at the top of the box, Taylor Ruths turned and played a ball back to Siegfried. The senior ripped the ball into the left side of the net from about 25 yards, then celebrated by pumping his arms.

“Everyone was focused going into this game,” O’Connell said. “When we got that goal, it was, ‘Keep working from here.’ Their legs got heavy, and we got lighter.”

James Wood coach Chris Hild felt his team was in control at halftime. He attributed that partly to being able to slow the pace of the game by repeatedly inserting Mel Savarese for long throw-ins.

But the refs put a stop to that in the second half when it was clear that Savarese wasn’t getting ready to come in until the ball went out. And when Sherando scored, it was the Warriors who were able to dictate the run of the play.

Sherando’s defense stood particularly tall, limiting James Wood to one shot in the 26 minutes following the first goal. The Colonels only had one truly dangerous chance in the second half, and that was a shot in the box that O’Connell blocked.

Despite the defeat, Hild said James Wood can be proud.

“I think James Wood’s definitely made a big step in the right direction,” he said. “We’re losing some senior leadership, but I think we have a lot of underclassmen who are easily going to fill those roles. I think we’re going to be a team to watch.”

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