WINCHESTER — After experiencing overtime heartbreak twice to Winchester-Frederick County rivals this year, the Millbrook High School boys’ soccer team didn’t leave anything to chance on Tuesday night.
Junior Steve Luna Pleitez scored off sophomore Ian Melnikoff’s back-header in the 66th minute to break a tie game, and the Pioneers flooded the James Wood nets with three more goals in the final seven minutes to earn a 5-1 Class 4 Northwestern District win at Millbrook.
The Pioneers (3-2, 1-2 district) had suffered overtime losses to Handley and Sherando this season on the road, with the latter defeat taking place on March 25. An extra 10 minutes was looming once again, but instead Millbrook poured on the offense to deal the first defeat of the year to James Wood (4-1-1, 0-1-1).
Pioneers coach Rhonda Cottino said she knew her team was capable of playing like it did in outscoring the Colonels 4-0 down the stretch, and she enjoyed seeing everything come together when Millbrook needed it the most.
“We’re not a sloppy run-and-gun team,” Cottino said. “When we can settle the ball down and we can actually combine [passes], we look a lot better. The last 20 minutes of that game was pretty much controlled by us, and that’s because we put the ball on our feet, and starting moving off the ball, and combining our attack with five or six [people] moving into the box instead of one or two going forward.
“It’s something we’ve been working on. I’ve seen this with this team this whole year. I think they’ve always had this ability. The talent was there, but we hadn’t clicked yet. Hopefully after this, they see their abilities when they work together, and it just continues to build from here.”
James Wood led 1-0 at the half as a result of Triston Debela redirecting Noah Nieman’s free kick from 40 yards out by the right sideline into the goal. The Colonels led despite being outshot 13-9, with Melnikoff (one goal, three assists) having three outstanding opportunities to score in the final five minutes of the half but unable to put any of them on frame.
In the second half, Cottino felt moving junior David Avila-Moreno (two goals, one assist) from forward to midfield made a big difference in the team’s quality of play.
After taking a pass from Melnikoff, Avila-Moreno made a strong turn on a defender and hit a shot from 25 yards out four minutes in. The ball slipped through the hands of Zach Myers (eight saves) and went into the back of the net to make it 1-1. Avila-Moreno celebrated the score wildly.
“A goal is a goal,” he said with a smile.
The Pioneers only managed one goal in each of their defeats to Handley and Sherando, but the player who scored four times last Thursday against Warren County would set up a brilliant strike from Luna Pleitez.
A punt by Brandt Upson (six saves) bounced once high into the middle of the field to the tall Melnikoff as he faced Upson, and he sent the ball into space behind the James Wood defense with his head. Luna Pleitez outran the Colonels and struck the ball from 20 yards out past a charging Myers to put Millbrook up 2-1.
“I just saw the opening,” Luna Pleitez said. “Coach has been telling me that I don’t know my speed, so it was time to kick it up. I saw the goal, found my spot, and I scored.”
Players on the field and on the bench ran to the right corner of the field to celebrate, with the Pioneers’ jumping and yelling not stopping until they reached the track.
After that, Millbrook didn’t rest on its lead. The Pioneers outshot James Wood 7-0 over the game’s last 20 minutes.
Avila-Moreno redirected a Melnikoff cross into the net in the 74th minute, and less than a minute later Melnikoff stuffed in the rebound of a shot by Avila-Moreno. In the final two minutes, Evan Gong scored off a Shawn Nathan Fameni assist.
“[In the second half], I feel like we combined way better,” Avila-Moreno said. “We were able to find easier chances to finish. [The last 10 minutes] was like a field day. Everything opened up.”
James Wood coach Ronald Velasquez said while Myers made some great saves on Tuesday, he felt the manner in which Millbrook tied the game changed the momentum. Overall, he didn’t see the type of play that had helped the Colonels to a five-game unbeaten streak.
“Defensively, our organization was gone today,” Velasquez said. “From the first half, we were lacking it. That translated to everything else around the field. In the second half, we weren’t communicating marks. We were letting runs in behind that were not talked about. We were able to get that goal in the back of the net but with the way we were playing defensively, it was a given [Millbrook] was going to turn it around if we didn’t react [to what the Pioneers were doing].”
Both teams return to action on Friday, with James Wood hosting Handley and Millbrook hosting Liberty.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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