WINCHESTER — Isaac Carter had been itching to get back on the soccer field.
On Friday, he made his return to the pitch a memorable one.
Carter played his first game back since he had surgery on his femur in December and scored two goals to help the Handley High School boys’ soccer team defeat James Wood 4-0 at Kelican Stadium on Friday night.
With the win, the Judges (6-0, 3-0 Class 4 Northwestern District) stayed undefeated and won their fifth straight game against the Colonels (4-1-2, 0-2-1) — Wood last defeated Handley in a game that wasn’t a forfeit in 2022.
The Judges outshot the Colonels 17-8 in the victory and 15-3 in the first half.
After the Judges took an early 2-0 lead, Carter scored his first goal in the 33rd minute off an assist from junior midfielder Finn Slaughter.
In the 68th minute, Carter extended the Judges’ advantage to four, rifling in his second goal from about 30 yards out.
The junior midfielder said it’s been a battle to be able to run again, let alone play in a game.
“It was pretty painful, but my teammates and coaches, they were really supporting me getting back, and I was just really happy to be out there,” Carter said.
The Judges got on the board in the eighth minute when junior midfielder Juan Jimenez fired in a goal inside the 6, chipping one in after a corner kick ball that bounced off a couple of Handley and Wood players squirted out to him.
It only took six minutes for Handley to tack on another score. On one of the Judges’ six corner kicks of the night, Micah Combs delivered a perfectly placed ball to Jackson Justice, who headed in the ball from the goal box before Wood goalkeeper Zach Myers could react in the 14th minute.
Justice gave all the credit to Combs, who also put the ball in play on Jimenez’s score.
“It was a beautiful ball from Micah,” Justice said. “He hits a perfect ball every single time. It’s just whether or not I can get my head on it and put it where I need to put it. [I was] standing at the front post, came around to the back post like I always do, and then just slotted it right home. None of it was me. Honestly, it was all Micah, and I just had to put the placement on it.”
Handley coach Cosmo Balio thought Combs’ early corner kicks sparked the Judges’ momentum the rest of the night.
“Micah’s got an ability to find guys,” Balio said. “He is a relentless worker on skill. Tell him to go work on something, and he’s gonna do it hour after hour by himself when no one else is there.”
Balio said his team had on their mind last year’s regular-season finale when the Judges needed an overtime goal to defeat James Wood 6-5 after leading 3-0 to start the game.
“That was in the back of the head, and a lot of the kids kind of remembered that and said, ‘Okay, let’s kind of take that away and not have that happen to us this year,’” Balio said.
Handley finished last season 17-1, thanks in large part to its defense. And based on the start of this season, the Judges may be poised for another perfect regular season.
The Judges have allowed just three goals through the first six games and have shut out their opponents in the past three contests.
“Our back line is playing great,” Balio said. “They’re able to take away any of the team’s top scorers or scoring threats. Justice and [Axel] Grimaldo just work well together out there.”
Wood coach Ronald Velasquez thought the early 3-0 deficit was too much for his team to overcome.
“In the first half, they were outcompeting us for everything,” Velasquez said. “We were getting bullied on the set pieces. We can’t have guys jump over us in the box. That’s what a majority of the goals in this area are going to come from, and that’s how they opened it up with us early on.”
After getting outshot by 12 in the first half, the Colonels outshot the Judges 5-2 in the second half.
Although it didn’t end in a victory, that second-half surge was what Velasquez wants to see from his squad.
“We stopped getting pushed around,” Velasquez said. “We started pressing. We started moving as a team and getting up there and having a little more confidence, which led to us moving the ball more up the field.”
Justice, while pleased with Friday’s outcome, doesn’t want Handley to get ahead of itself. He wants the Judges to keep improving so they can be at their best in the postseason.
“I’m hoping to … make a state run this year,” Justice said. “That’s our hope and that’s our dream, so let’s see if we can do it.”
Wood will host Sherando and Handley will travel to Millbrook on Tuesday.
— Contact Justin Robertson at jrobertson@winchesterstar.com
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