NWD Boys’ Soccer: Warriors Roll Over Wood, 3-1

Posted: May 20, 2013
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — A year ago, a situation in which the Sherando boys’ soccer team was without a couple of key players might not have ended well.

For example, without the services of sweeper Alex Burns and Cade Petty, the Northwestern District regular season champion Warriors lost to Millbrook in the district semifinals in 2012. But this year’s Sherando team seems to rise to the occasion no matter the circumstances though, and Saturday was just the most recent demonstration of that.

Playing without the injured Burns and senior midfielder/defender Collin Ellias, the top-seeded and regular-season champion Warriors put forth an exceptional all-around effort to beat No. 4 James Wood 3-1 in the district semifinals at James Wood’s Kelican Stadium.

Sherando (14-1-1) will face No. 2 Millbrook — a 3-1 winner over No. 3 Handley Saturday — in the tournament final at 6 p.m. Tuesday, also at Kelican.

On offense, the Warriors were able to create numerous scoring chances for themselves while outshooting the Colonels (7-10-1) 18-3, while Sherando’s defense almost completely shut down James Wood’s attack.

The Colonels’ only goal — a Tommy Houser penalty kick — came in the final two minutes of the first half with Sherando already up 3-0, and the penalty was for a handball in the box on a skipping ball played from 35 yards out.

The Warriors improved to 3-0 against the Colonels this year, outscoring them 10-1 in the process.

“We just tried to get those first 10 minutes under control, because we knew they were going to come at us,” said Anderson of James Wood, which beat Skyline 7-3 in Thursday’s play-in. “We tried to settle in and do our thing after that, and I was pleased with the way they played.”

Though both should play in Tuesday’s final, Burns’ (eye bruise) and Ellias’ (leg) Friday practice injuries forced the Warriors to make some lineup adjustments, and those adjustments continued even after the game started. Halfway through the first half, junior midfielder Austin Wernecke was shifted back to sweeper, and Anderson felt he did a good job organizing the defense.

But Sherando has had numerous players get injured at times this year — including losing Petty for six games — but the results are almost always the same. Saturday’s win doubled the win total of last year’s team that won the regular season title but only went 7-10 overall.

“I‘ve played everywhere for Anderson,” said Wernecke, who plays sweeper for club soccer. “I feel this is the first year in my three years I’ve been here that we really are a team, and we make plays together and anyone can fill in anywhere.

“Even if we’re faced with adversity, we’re a strong enough team to come through that.”

It only took about six minutes for Sherando to put James Wood on its heels.

Sophomore Tommy Buono won a ball at the top of the penalty box, dribbled left, then chipped the ball toward the middle. Ty Morris kept the ball heading right by heading it, and sophomore Andrew Wade volleyed it in with left foot to put the Warriors on top 1-0.

Sherando added to that lead with a goal by Buono in the 28th minute — he knocked in a rebound after James Wood goalkeeper Cameron Frye (five saves) dropped a cross after colliding with a Warrior player — and senior forward Baylen McCarthy split two defenders in the box before firing a ball in during the 35th minute.

Anderson said he liked the variety in Sherando’s attack.

“[We’re] trying to use each other more, instead of just trying to do it all by themselves,” Anderson said. “Each of them [up top], all have their own styles, so we’re trying to get them to work together and off of each other to create more scoring chances than just off set pieces.”

On the other side, James Wood — which was without leading scorer Jon Henriques for the third straight game for unspecified reasons — just wasn’t able to create enough offense to challenge Sherando.

Colonels coach Matt Dunsmore liked what he saw from his team overall this season, though.

“I’m really proud of these guys,” Dunsmore said. “These are the best guys. These guys work so hard.”

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