WINCHESTER — The streak continues.
James Wood picked up its play significantly after halftime and forced overtime, but in the end it was Handley All-State forward Emeryce Worrell who gave the Judges a 4-3 win with a close-range shot 1:17 into the extra session on Thursday at James R. Wilkins Jr. Stadium.
Worrell’s goal — her second of the game — led to the Colonels’ first loss of the season and improved Handley’s record to 4-0 at home against James Wood since the start of the 2022 season, Worrell’s freshman year.
“It was a thought in my head before the game — ‘We’ve never lost to James Wood in our bowl,'” said Worrell, who also had an assist on Thursday. “It’s definitely nice to keep that streak going.”
Worrell was a little disappointed she didn’t put the Judges (5-1, 2-1 Class 4 Northwestern District) ahead at the end of regulation against the Colonels (6-1, 2-1), who trailed 3-2 at halfime but tied the game up in the 70th minute.
After Wood’s Maddie Shirley (one goal, one assist) played the ball along the ground, DeLaney Newcome had to track the ball while a Handley defender tried to shield her. But just before the ball got to goalkeeper Olivia Jett (six saves), Newcome was able to get foot on the ball and push it in from close range past Jett to make it 3-3.
Two minutes later, Worrell found herself on a breakaway but was denied on a kick save by Wood goalkeeper Alaynah McGuire (seven saves), with the ball rolling just past the right post. Worrell was later denied on a shot she lined right at McGuire inside the 18 from the left side.
“Before overtime, I had three different chances to score on,” Worrell said. “In the run of play, I was just allowing myself to let go and trust my skill to get [the ball] in the back of the net. When you get in your head, you miss, you hit it at the goalkeeper. Really what was just running through my mind was getting the ball in the back of the net.”
Worrell carried the ball at the Wood defense for a long time with her feet before she unleashed her shot from well inside the 18. It wound up being the only shot of overtime for either team.
Handley coach Mike Danielson said he challenged the team before the extra session, and the first-year head coach saw pleasing results.
“I told them, ‘Give me 10 minutes. It doesn’t matter what hurts, it doesn’t matter what you’re thinking. Just battle, make the best decision you can, work with each other, and see what happens,'” Danielson said. “The star of the show scored for us.
“[Worrell’s] just super creative. Whether she’s going on goal and shooting and going on goal and trying to play somebody and get an assist, to have somebody like that, any coach would want her on their team.”
The Judges were in positon to win because of how well they started the game. Thursday’s game was Handley’s first since it lost to Sherando six days prior at Arrowhead Stadium. They didn’t have Mia Hudson due to injury in that contest, but she scored two of the Judges’ three goals in the first half, in which they had a 13-5 shot advantage. Wood had a 11-7 shot edge after halftime.
“We wanted to have a reaction [to the Sherando loss],” Danielson said. “Our quaity wasn’t there against Sherando. It was our third game in four days, and we had tired legs and tired minds. Today, we did really, really well. We fought and battled.”
In the first half, Handley took the game’s first six shots, but James Wood struck first in the 17th minute. On a corner kick from the right side from Avery Wright, Shirley volleyed in the cross from the right side near the top of the 18.
The Judges evened the game seven minutes later after a foul in the box against Handley’s Lorrie Tandoh. Hudson was asked to take the penalty kick, and she buried her shot in the upper right portion of the goal.
Handley scored the next two goals to make it 3-1. Worrell blasted a shot from 23 yards out into the left side of the goal in the 30th minute, and Hudson flicked the ball in from just outside the 18 in the 33rd minute after taking a pass from Worrell.
James Wood made it 3-2 in the final two minutes of the first half. Newcome was denied by Jett on a close-range shot, but shortly after the ball came back to her near the top of the 18 from Ava Manzo and she fired the ball into the net.
While James Wood played an encouraging second half, the Colonels ultimately dug themselves too much of a hole with their play in the first half.
James Wood coach Donavan Russell took the Colonels to Jim Barnett Park earlier this week so they could practice on the artificial turf at Preston Field in hopes of being better prepared for Handley’s turf field. Even with scoring the first goal, it took almost the entire first half before James Wood started to play with the same quality and energy as the Judges.
“We roll in here, and we struggle every time,” said Russell, whose team had not allowed a goal all season until Thursday. “It’s a big, emotional game for us.
“It becomes a much wider, bigger game on artificial glass. We just had to adjust to that a little bit. I think the girls did adjust fine. We had really good chances in the second half. It was just a really slow start.”
One of the positives for the Colonels is that Newcome continues to show the family tradition of soccer success is going to last for a long time at James Wood. The sophomore now has five goals and six assists this season after recording two goals and four assists last year in her one year at the high school level with older sister and All-State midfielder McKenna.
“DeLaney plays the game very focused and very cerebral, thinking about what to do, and as a sophomore she’s really starting to kind of move well, getting stronger, a little quicker, and it’s really paying off for us,” Russell said. “She’s a big part of our offense.”
Handley is next in action on Tuesday when it hosts Millbrook, while James Wood will travel to Sherando on the same day.
For a longer version of this story, go to www.winchesterstar.com.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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