WINCHESTER — It was evident the James Wood boys’ soccer team thought it should have been up by more than one goal when a hand ball in the penalty box gave Clarke County the opening it needed to tie Friday’s game in the 59th minute.
Rather than let frustration set in, the Colonels kept working.
After Aidan Bell played a free kick from 50 yards out into the penalty box, Brayden Pineda had the finishing touch after the ball touched several players before it got to him in the 70th minute. Pineda’s shot from inside 10 yards proved to be the difference in a 2-1 Colonels win in their home opener at Kelican Stadium.
Just after Pineda chipped a close-range shot wide of the goal in the 50th minute, James Wood coach Ronald Velasquez asked about the game’s shot situation. It was 11-0 Colonels at the time, with Triston Debela’s 28th-minute goal the only shot to find the back of the net against Clarke County goalkeeper Drake Barton. The Eagles sophomore made five of his seven saves in the first 50 minutes.
Ultimately, James Wood was able to improve to 2-0 by battling in Clarke County’s penalty box to take the lead, and in its own 18 to maintain it.
“The game itself was phenomenal,” Velasquez said. “A big emphasis for us for this year is just competing. After watching the Handley-Millbrook game [on Thursday], it’s a battle out there. It doesn’t matter on paper who’s got the better players. At the end of the day, and I’ve said this before, it’s about who comes out here and fights.
“Today I felt like we were first to everything. I felt like we were first to balls in the air, first to challenges. Winning everything, willing to just work.”
After Burns Beckett scored on his penalty kick, the Eagles (1-1) applied pressure on the James Wood defense in the immediate aftermath and nearly put in a loose ball in the box after Zach Myers (three saves) stopped a 30-yard free kick but gave up a rebound in the 61st minute.
The Colonels got themselves settled, though. Pineda said James Wood hasn’t always responded well to adverse situations in the past.
“A couple of seasons ago, even last season, we might have just put our heads down and given up,” said Pineda, whose team lost last year’s home opener 2-0 to Clarke County. “I’m really impressed and happy that we were able to come back and finish the job, especially at home. I think we’re a team that’s going to go far this year.”
Pineda said Bell’s long ball bounced off two teammates and bounced past another one before finding its way to him on the left side. Pineda knocked the ball in, then went toward the right corner flag and did Cristiano Ronaldo’s “Siuuu!” celebration with a mid-air spin, with his teammates running to him and saying the phrase as he landed.
Clarke County would get three corner kicks and take three shots over the remainder of the game, but none of them were on target. Clarke County’s last shot came from outside the 18 in the final minute after the ball popped out following a corner kick that made contact with three players in the box.
The shot sailed high, and shortly after the final whistle blew to give the Colonels a gritty win over Clarke County after going 0-1-1 against the Eagles last year. James Wood finished with a 15-9 shot edge Friday.
When asked after the game what was going to be strong about this year’s team, James Wood senior center back and captain Seth Rakowski was quick to reply.
“Our work ethic,” he said. “I think we work well as a team together. On defense, our chemistry’s good, and we’re good at passing it to each other.”
Velasquez certainly liked James Wood’s work ethic on Friday. The Colonels needed it with only three substitutes available due to illness and injuries.
“The 11 that were on the field were essentially able to play the entirety of the game, so I was proud of them for that,” Velasquez said.
Debela played with plenty of energy and aggression in the first half, so it was no surprise to see the sophomore midfielder score after running onto a ball that was hit by Pineda and deflected into space in the 28th minute.
“He’s a go-getter,” Velasquez said. “He was on JV last year, and he’s come back in phenomenal shape. After the Strasburg game [Tuesday] and before this game, a big push was for him to get into the box and crash the box. As an outside mid, you need to be able to get in and support the forwards, and today, that’s what the goal came off. I was proud of him.”
While James Wood didn’t finish as many opportunities as it would have liked Friday, a Colonels team that beat Strasburg 8-0 believes it has the potential to score a lot of goals. Barton denied one with a beautiful leaping save to his right on a penalty kick by Daylin Paige in the second minute.
Both coaches acknowledged that it was difficult to pass and possess the way they wanted to with the Kelican Stadium grass not in ideal shape at this time of year. Clarke County coach Patrick Casey said the Eagles talked about adjusting the way they were playing at halftime, which led to a much stronger final 40 minutes for them.
“The first half was terrible for us,” said Casey, whose team beat Sherando 2-1 in Stephens City on Tuesday. “This field makes it unbelievably challenging to do what we want to do. To win out here, you have to play the game in the air and not on the ground, and that is not to our advantage at all.
“We talked about work rate, making it difficult for them to win that first ball and being quicker on our toes to the second ball. It worked a little bit better in the second half, but a couple things didn’t go our way.”
Overall, Casey likes how his team is playing. The Eagles bring back most of their starters from last year’s Class 2 state semifinalists, including six All-Bull Run District selections, and 10 players total.
“These guys have gelled really early,” Casey said. “I couldn’t really ask for a whole lot more from them with the way we’ve started training. I think we should be on target to do what we want to do this year.”
James Wood will host Skyline on Monday, and Clarke County is next in action on Tuesday at Handley.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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