STEPHENS CITY — James Wood junior midfielder DeLaney Newcome has scored plenty of goals in her Colonels’ soccer career, but arguably the biggest of this season came Thursday night.
Newcome scored in the first half and goalkeeper Alaynah McGuire recorded her program-record 12th shutout as James Wood won 1-0 over Sherando at Arrowhead Stadium and set itself up for its biggest match of the season.
James Wood (11-3-1) closes out the regular season Tuesday at Handley, with the winner claiming the North No. 1 seed in the upcoming Region 4D tournament. Handley defeated Wood 2-0 earlier in the season.
Sherando ends the regular season at 10-5-2. The Warriors will be the No. 4 seed for the Region 4D North unless Charlottesville loses to Goochland — a team it has already beaten 7-2 — on Monday. If the Black Knights lose, the Warriors move up to No. 3.
“Three of the local teams being up top with 10 wins each [coming into Thursday], Handley of course won today, it all matters,” James Wood coach Donavan Russell said. “I told the girls we want to perform well, and finish the 1-0 lead. I thought we adjusted well at halftime. We were a little bit loose and we really tightened up in the second half.
“I thought we were playing a little bit soft of loose balls [in the first half]. I thought we were making a lot of great passes but they weren’t really moving off the ball into those spots where they should’ve been. It was just an adjustment of we know what we need to do, we’re making the right passes, let’s make those runs off the ball. We saw a lot of those passes strung together in the second half.”
James Wood — which won its eighth straight game — has been solid defensively all season. The Colonels’ 11 wins and one tie — a scoreless game with Sherando on April 7 — have all been shutouts. The only goals (seven) Wood has allowed have come in their three losses.
McGuire was again clutch in the net, saving all nine shots sent her way. Sherando’s Jenna Hambrick was just as good, stopping eight of nine shots behind a defense that was missing center back Delaney Gladden.
Throughout the first half, Wood was controlling the play and keeping the ball primarily in the Sherando end of the field. The pressure finally paid off for the Colonels midway through the half.
Avery Wright gathered a loose ball in the Warriors half of the field and threaded a perfect pass to Newcome. She split a pair of defenders, got behind the defense and was able to get a shot past Hambrick and put the Colonels on the board with 17:34 left in the first half.
“She has scored plenty of goals for us,” Russell said. “In a game where it felt like it was hard for us to get into the net, it was hard for us to create chances, for her to make that break off of Avery’s ball was just fantastic. That kind of composure on a shot like that, it was big.”
Sherando’s best first-half scoring chance came near the five-minute mark. The Warriors broke past the Colonels defense and had a two-on-one. Eleni Kubeika took the pass, felt some defensive pressure and shot probably earlier than she wanted, giving McGuire a fairly easy save.
With less than two minutes left in the half, Kubeika again had an opportunity, but the fierce wind took her shot and blew it wide of the goal and into the side of the net out of bounds. Just under three minutes into the second half Kubeika again had a shot on goal from in front of the Colonels’ net, but McGuire was there to keep the Warriors off the board.
Newcome just missed her second goal of the contest with just over 28 minutes left in the game, hitting the crossbar. The rebound bounced to Wright, but Hambrick regathered herself and was there to make the save, keeping the game 1-0.
Over the last 25 minutes of the game, with the Warriors down a goal, the game shifted to the Colonels side of the field. Though with the stingy Colonels’ defense, the Sherando scoring opportunities were limited.
The Warriors had a couple of free kicks that they were able to place on net, the first by Sienna Forrer and the second by Hambrick. McGuire was able to make the stop on both.
Sherando’s last real scoring chance came at the 12-minute mark when Lydia Keefauver got loose in front of the net for a shot. But again, the wind blew her shot wide left and out of bounds.
As good as the James Wood defense was for the first 70 minutes of the game, it was suffocating for the last 10 minutes. Though the Warriors had possession most of the time and in the Colonels end of the field, they were unable to get near the net or get a good shot off.
“We’re a much different team than we were when we played Sherando the first time,” Russell said. “We were still figuring a lot of things out. We’re a team of defenders for the most part, but we’ve worked so much on the offense and what we need to do that the girls understand it so much better now.
“Sherando is always a battle. Every time you play them you know it’s going to be a tough, tough game. There’s a lot of history here. A lot of good senior leadership set the tone of what needed to be done.”
Sherando coach Patrick Gladden said the Colonels did a better job of shooting.
“They got shots off and we didn’t,” Gladden said.
Gladden did feel the Warriors’ performance was a big improvement over Tuesday, when Sherando lost 2-0 to Handley.
“We told [the players] that if we lose 1-0 but we keep giving this effort, then there’s nothing wrong with this,” Gladden said. “It’s the game. It’s how it’s played. They walked off the field tired, which was what we asked. We asked them to give everything they had, to play smart and do the best they could. They gave it their best, and tonight’s effort was extraordinary. They did not have a bad second half. They played a complete game tonight.”