WINCHESTER — Before the season, it was reasonable to wonder just how well the Millbrook High School boys’ soccer team would generate offense this year — no one on last year’s team scored more than nine goals, and no returning player had more than four.
One only needed to watch Ian Melnikoff for a few seconds this year to know that he was going to give opposing defenses everything they can handle and more in 2025.
The sophomore forward boosted his team-high goal total to 19 with a hat trick in Monday’s 3-1 win over James Wood at the Colonels’ Kelican Stadium that gave Millbrook a season sweep.
With the Region 4D playoffs looming, the Pioneers (8-6-1, 1.67 points per game) are surging with three straight wins and sit just behind No. 3 James Wood (7-5-3, 1.71) as the No. 4 team in Region 4D North heading into Tuesday’s action.
Melnikoff is as big a reason as any for Millbrook’s hot streak. Melnikoff has scored in each of those three victories. He scored four times against Kettle Run — the same number of goals he had all last year — in a 5-1 win and once in a 2-0 victory over Sherando for a total of eight goals.
On a rainy Monday, Melnikoff scored twice in the first half to give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead, then iced the game by sending in a rebound of his own saved shot in the final two minutes to make it 3-1.
Melnikoff’s finishing ability was key in game in which the two squads were close to even in shots (15-11 Pioneers) and each keeper (Millbrook’s Brandt Upson, James Wood’s Zach Myers) made five saves each.
“I just feel like I stepped up as a leader this year,” said Melnikoff when asked about his growth as a player. “I try to help my team, and I helped myself. It boosted my confidence. When I play with the team and I feel good, we score a lot of goals. If I’m the one scoring, it makes me feel good, but if anybody else is scoring, it’s just even better.”
Millbrook coach Rhonda Cottino said Melnikoff’s trust in his teammates has helped with his scoring production. An example of that was the first game against James Wood, which Millbrook won 5-1 with four goals in the last 14 minutes to break a tie. Melnikoff had one goal and three assists in that game.
“The first James Wood game, he was frustrated all game because he wasn’t scoring,” Cottino said. “But then he figured out I’m marked, so somebody else must be open. When he plays with his teammates and trusts his teammates, he’s been assisting more and scoring more goals. He’s allowing other people to help him out.”
After taking a pass from Shawn Nathan Fameni, Melnikoff made a nice drive to the right of a defender on the right side and deposited a goal in the lower left corner to make it 1-0 16 minutes into the game.
“I’m always trying to go to goal,” Melnikoff said. “I saw David [Avila-Moreno] making the run. He pulled two defenders in, and I just took it myself and went all the way to goal. I knew that almost any shot on the ground was going to skip with the rain tonight, and it skipped right in there.”
Melnikoff’s second goal came on about as perfect of a shot as you’ll see. After the Pioneers were awarded a direct kick on the right side more than 30 yards away just a few seconds before the half, Melnikoff sent a high shot to the upper left corner that dipped as it neared the goal and went under the crossbar.
“I know their keeper is short, so I knew if I just put it up there and I got enough curve on it, it could go top left where I wanted it,” Melnikoff said.
James Wood made a strong push in the second half. In the 50th minute, Brayden Pineda jumped on a loose ball after a cross from Santiago Rojas deflected off a Millbrook player, and he knocked it in to cut the Pioneers’ lead to 2-1.
The Colonels would have their chances to tie, including taking a shot that hit the crossbar in the 64th minute. Millbrook defender Kyle Arthur — who likely saved a goal in the first half by clearing a ball way from near the goal line — would block a shot taken from the top of the 18 in the 69th minute, and Upson made a leaping grab on a long ball near the goal while being challenged by a James Wood player in the 73rd minute. Whether it was off a foot or a throw-in, Upson was impressive with his ability to secure balls in the air on Monday.
The Pioneers have one more regular-season game next Monday with Skyline. After that, they feel like they’ve found a form that will make them successful in the postseason.
“We realized that we were down at a point, and we had to step it up,” Melnikoff said.
Cottino said changes to Millbrook’s midfield four or five games have made a big difference.
“We’re always been a technical team, but we just weren’t connecting passes well and winning the midfield,” Cottino said. “Steve [Luna Pleitez] for sure, has been huge on the outside of the midfield. That’s not an easy role to play. It’s a lot of running, and I’m asking him to defend and attack all game. Shawn [Nathan Fameni] and Colton Barr on the other side of the field have been really good, too.
“The switch that we’ve made has allowed us to get more people off the bench, so we can use our total team a little bit better rather than wearing down the midfield the entire game. It’s more work on our forwards, but they’ve proven they can do it.”
Alex Calixto Cruz also had an assist for Millbrook.
There isn’t much separation with many of the teams in the Region 4D North, and James Wood coach Ronald Velasquez said a big key to success going forward will be taking advantage of opportunities. The Colonels will travel to Sherando on Wednesday for their next game.
“[Millbrook] finishing [made the difference],” Velasquez said. “Two of their goals came way outside the 18. My team needed to be clinical both sides of the ball finishing and also defensively. Second half we completely shut them out [until the end], but we had chances we didn’t put away.”
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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