Handley girls clinch 1st regular season district title

May 17, 2011

By Greg Hutton
Special to The Winchester Star       

WINCHESTER- As the regular season draws to a close, most teams hope for, above all, one thing: the ability to control their own destiny.

That was the case for the Handley girls' soccer team heading into Monday's regular season finale against visiting James Wood. The Judges needed a win to clinch the Northwestern District regular-season championship and the automatic berth to the Region II tournament.

And they got it.

Keyed by Cassandra Alamo's goal and a defense that bent but did not break, the Judges clinched their first regular season district championship in program history with a 1-0 win Monday at the Handley Bowl.

"You always want to be in a position to control your own destiny," Handley coach John Lynch said. "And to be honest, pretty much all year we've been in the driver's seat in the district." The game's opening minutes were largely played in James Wood's half, and it paid off for Handley (10-5-1, 6-2) six minutes in.

Following a Wood foul, Alamo took a free kick just outside the 18-yard box that deflected off a Colonel defender and into the back of the net. It was the first shot of the game for either team.

"It wasn't the greatest," Alamo said. "But I'm glad it went in."

The Colonels (5-6-3, 3-4-1) increased their pressure midway through the first half, but they couldn't get on the scoreboard. The squad's best opportunity came with six minutes left in the half, when freshman midfielder Marissa Maddalena's open shot from 15 yards out went into the hands of Handley goalkeeper Holly Ogilvie.

The sustained offensive effort from James Wood continued in the second half. The Colonels hit the crossbar twice - once on a cross from Cat Woznak and then again on a 30-yard rocket by Maddalena - and they also had a ball cleared off the goal line by a Handley defender with seven minutes remaining.

"We've got to score," James Wood coach Jim Carden said. "We had the plays, we should have, and we didn't.

"[In the] second half we outplayed them, but they got the goal that counted and we didn't. We just didn't play up to our capability in the first half. But give [the Judges] credit. They got the goal, and they held us out in the second half."

While the Colonels came close on multiple occasions, Handley also had chances to capitalize. But the score remained unchanged, and tense moments ensued for all involved.

"[The Colonels] definitely had their opportunities," Lynch said. "The team that takes their opportunities and makes something of them is the team that wins. And we happened to have that one set piece and snuck it in. It could have gone either way tonight."

The Judges held a narrow 8-7 advantage in shots and a 3-2 edge in shots on goal. Although the shot count was relatively low, both teams added a significant number of teasing crosses into the box.

But the result was Handley's first regular season title.

"We made history," Alamo said. "It was a good game, they played hard, there were a lot of scary parts in the game, and I'm just glad we won. We didn't give up."

Handley now has five days of rest ahead of its Northwestern District tournament semifinal game Saturday.

James Wood had already secured the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will return to the Handley Bowl - the site of the entire girls' tournament - to face fifth-seeded Skyline in Thursday's play-in game at 5 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to play the Judges.

"We're going to play [Handley] again," Carden said, "and we'll see what happens."