WINCHESTER — Neither James Wood or Sherando was pleased with how the first half went on Friday night at Kelican Stadium, and Warriors coach Patrick Gladden was particularly dismayed — he felt his squad could have been up by two or three goals in the Region 4D girls’ high school soccer quarterfinal.
The second half saw Sherando fall behind less than four minutes into it, and James Wood spent the rest of the game making sure it never lost its grip on that advantage.
Senior forward Avery Wright scored in the 44th minute and assisted Aubrie Darnall in the 60th minute for the game’s only two goals after halftime as No. 1 North seed James Wood defeated No. 4 North Sherando 3-1.
The Colonels (12-3-2) improved to 2-0-1 against the Warriors (11-6-2) this season with their 10th straight victory and will now host North No. 3 Charlottesville (11-4-1) at 6:30 p.m. in Monday’s semifinals. A win would give James Wood a spot in Wednesday’s final and its third state tournament berth in four seasons.
The senior class had its second straight memorable day at Kelican Stadium following Thursday’s graduation ceremony, but the Colonels were at risk of having it memorable for the wrong reasons with the score 1-1 at halftime.
“Not good,” said James Wood coach Donavan Russell when asked about how he felt at the break. “We just weren’t passing the ball. We were passing the ball to Sherando entirely too much. But [the team] knew what needed to be done. You can see it in their faces. They weren’t happy with how they were playing. They were determined to be better in the second half, and they just lifted their level and did it.”
In the second half, the Warriors had the first chance to make a statement.
A pass was played into space for a Sherando player two minutes in, and it looked for a moment like she might be able to go one-on-one against James Wood goalkeeper Alaynah McGuire. But the Warrior player’s second touch shifted her to the left side of the goal instead of straight in, and the third touch was a shot inside the 18 that rolled slowly along the ground before McGuire picked it up.
That was one of the opportunities Gladden would have liked to have had back.
In the 25th minute, Lydia Keefauver had a beautiful strike from just outside the 18 that landed inside the far right post after she knocked a Mia Bordogna pass forward and ran onto it, which tied the game 1-1 two minutes after the Colonels took the lead. But Gladden felt the Warriors could have made the game more difficult for McGuire, who played exceptionally in the first half with six of her eight saves.
“We had opportunities, but we’re not burying them,” Gladden said. “We haven’t finished well this year. That’s why we don’t win games like this.”
A minute after Sherando failed to score on its breakaway early in the second half, Gladden had another reason to be frustrated.
“We gave up three really bad goals,” Gladden said.
Sherando goalkeeper Jenna Hambrick (six saves) couldn’t stop Kierny Prunty’s high-arcing shot from 30 yards out in the 23rd minute, which was set up by a long dribbling move from the left side to the right by Darnall. But also in the first half, Hambrick had two sensational forward sliding stops of Wright when she came of her line to eliminate any angle Wright had to shoot. But in the 44th minute, there was nothing she could do to stop Wright.
Darnall also helped set up the second goal. She knocked the ball away from a Sherando player on the right side, won a 50-50 opportunity with another Warrior for the ball, then crossed it into the middle. A Sherando touch went to James Wood’s DeLaney Newcome, and she played a short square pass inside to Wright, who buried her shot from just outside the goal box for a 2-1 James Wood edge.
“We knew we just had to calm down and play how we know how to play,” said Wright when asked about halftime discussions.
After James Wood had an 8-7 edge in shots in the first half, it was 5-5 in the second. The Warriors would never truly test McGuire in the second half. But the Colonels would expand their lead to 3-1 after Sherando fouled Wright outside the right edge of the penalty area, 12 yards from the end line.
No one in the area has been better with ball placement on crosses during her career than Wright. She played a ball toward the left far post that Darnall easily headed in after sprinting past her defender.
Though it was only her second header goal of the season, Darnall’s an enticing target. During the indoor track season, Darnall cleared 5 feet, 2 inches in the high jump at the Region 4D meet to take second, and she placed ninth in the Class 4 state meet.
Darnall likes having opportunties to head the ball because of her leaping ability, and she knew she had an opportunity to do something with Wright’s cross.
“My mentality was just, ‘Go,” Darnall said. “Give everything. If you get hurt, oh well. Give it all you got.”
The goal provided much-needed breathing room.
“Aubrie is great at getting up and getting high,” Wright said. “She knows that we really needed that [goal], and I knew she would step up and put it in the back of the net. You’ve got to have trust and faith in your teammates, and I think we definitely have that.”
Russell admired the aggressive and fearless approach that Darnall took to put herself in position to score, and the way she played overall on Friday.
“You’re expecting to come out with a few bruises [in that situation],and she just made sure that thing was in the net,” Russell said. “She played an outstanding game and really stepped up.”
Though there were some things to be frustrated about Friday, Gladden — who was a JV coach and helped with the varsity for Sherando before taking on the head varsity position last year — has immense admiration for what the Warriors accomplished this year.
“This was the best season I’ve seen here in over 15 years as far as chemistry and willingness to stay together, work with each other, build the young ones up,” Gladden said. “This was a fantastic year for them. I’ve watched a lot of teams have their last game, and seniors check out, and juniors start to check out because they think it’s getting ready to end. Nobody checked out.”
Sherando will lose seniors Sienna Forrer, Olivia Lee, Carleigh Ritter and Alana Taylor from this year’s squad.
“What a fantastic group,” Gladden said. “All of them had tremendous attitudes. They were here for the team. They were willing to work. They were willing to show how to work. The best group of seniors I’ve seen in a long time as far as how they started and how they finished. They never relented, and they just kept working and kept fighting.”
James Wood will now play Charlottesville, which defeated Handley 2-0 in the quarterfinals. Russell hopes playing at home will make a difference against the Knights, who play their home games on artificial turf.
“There’s a lot of good memories from this field with our state run [two years ago], having home-field advantage,” Russell said. “These girls all remember that and know that.”
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
Follow on X @WinStarSports1