WINCHESTER — In its first game in 13 days, the Handley High School boys’ soccer team looked as dynamic as ever.
The North No. 1 seed Judges scored four goals in each half and finished with an 8-1 win over North No. 5 James Wood in the Region 4D quarterfinals on Monday at James R. Wilkins Jr. Stadium.
Six Judges scored, led by juniors Isaac Carter (two goals, one assist) and Finn Slaughter (two goals), and two of them scored their first goals of the season (Cristian Cedillo and Moustafa Hassan). Handley (17-1) finished with a 32-4 shot advantage, including 20-2 in the first half when it forced James Wood senior goalkeeper Zach Myers to make 11 of his 15 saves.
“It was definitely really tough,” said Carter when asked about the 13-day game layoff. “But our coaches made sure our practices were really competitive, and all of our starters and all of our bench players made sure we were getting each other better every single day, getting ready for this game and for this postseason.
“The coaches gave us a good game plan, and everybody executed really well. Everybody was really, really excited to get out here, and we’re hoping to go on a really big run this year.”
At 4 p.m. in Wednesday’s semifinals, Handley will North No. 2 Charlottesville, a 5-0 winner over North No. 3 Millbrook in Monday’s quarterfinals. The Knights are the defending Class 4 champions and defeated the Judges 2-1 in last year’s Region 4D semis at Handley.
The Judges improved to 3-0 against the Colonels (8-8-3) and knocked them out of the postseason in the regional quarterfinal round for the second straight year, winning 10-0 in 2024. The Colonels — who fell 4-0 and 3-0 in their first two games against Handley — fell to 0-7 against Winchester/Frederick County schools in 2025.
James Wood was without its starting center backs for practically the whole game. Colonels coach Ronald Velasquez said Owen Swiger is already in New York working in a sales job after graduating from James Wood last week, and Seth Rakowski aggravated an injury he’s been playing with for several games five minutes into Monday’s game and did not return.
Handley made sure James Wood’s defense never got comfortable while it looked to adjust, though it took 17 minutes for the Judges to score thanks largely to the play of Myers.
“The first [15 minutes], we were doing some good things, but we just weren’t finding the back of the net,” Handley coach Cosmo Balio said. “I thought we were real tight. But then when the floodgates opened [after the first goal], we just started playing for each other.”
In the 17th minute, Carter curled in a left-footed shot inside the far right post from 20 yards out after taking a pass from Frankie Gomez (three assists).
Less than two minutes later, Slaughter leapt outside the goal box to head in a cross from the left side from Gomez.
In the 30th minute, Cedillo ran into a pass played along the ground in space from Carter and knocked the ball in from inside the 18.
In the final minute before the half, a cross was sent in from the right side from Gomez and headed in by Hassan.
“The finishing was spectacular today,” Balio said. “I couldn’t be more proud of Moustafa Hassan. That was his first goal of his career. That flick-on at the end was gorgeous.”
James Wood got on the board in the 48th minute when Handley was called for a foul in the air on a long ball into the box. Brayden Pineda buried his penalty kick into the left side of the goal to make it 4-1.
In the 60th minute, Slaughter scored his second goal after he stopped a cross from Skip Dickson. He turned toward goal and fired in a shot from near the top of the 18. That was followed by goals in the 66th minutes (Carter tapped in a long ball from Dickson that bounced once in the box) and 68th minutes (a Micah Combs corner kick deflected in off Myers’ hands and into the goal) to make it 7-1. Hudson Slaughter volleyed a ball in during the final seconds off an assist from Combs.
“[Myers] got pounded with shots today,” Velasquez said. “He’s not going to save everything that gets shot at him. He’s struggled in some games, but today he kept us in the game for a good part of the beginning.”
Balio said the Judges focused on consistency during their lengthy stretch of practice, and he felt that was there in the first half.
“The second half, the first 15 minutes, we went to sleep, and we kind of talked about that,” Balio said. “But I thought overall, today was good. We got some [playing] time for everybody. The wealth went around today.”
Carter said, “We were moving the ball really well today. James Wood was sitting back, so we were being patient, we were getting balls in the box, and we were finishing. We handled business today.”
Aidan King-Miller made two saves for the Judges.
Velasquez said it was definitely difficult playing without Swiger and Rakowski.
“Those were the two guys who were going to win everything in the air for us,” Velasquez said. “Last game we did a good job of defending their set pieces and not leaving guys unmarked. [Handley] had a lot of opportunities on set pieces today that they capitalized on, and some that they could have finished. We were fine to start, but once you concede a goal and start to get tired, it’s tough to recover.”
Velasquez said the Colonels did well in last Tuesday’s 3-0 Region 4D first round over Liberty. James Wood tied the Eagles the first time they went to Bealeton.
“We had a decisive win against them,” Velasquez said. “No matter what was happening with our results, each game, our players continued to come out and compete. I’m proud of them as a whole.”
James Wood loses eight seniors — Myers, Jesse Rojas-Lamprea, Jaden Clyburn, Rakowski, Jesus Hernandez-Portillo, Tristan Escalona, Swiger and Cody Woodson.
“I’m proud of the seniors and the work that they put in,” Velasquez said. “Nobody really sees behind the scenes what these guys do to be able to come out here and compete.”
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
Follow on X @WinStarSports1