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Special to Viva Loudoun
Purcellville (June 5, 2012) – It was all about the defense Tuesday night as Woodgrove High School celebrated VHSL AA state quarterfinal wins in softball and girls soccer.In softball, Woodgrove ended Culpeper’s cinderella run for a state title with a 3-0 victory. Wolverine senior
pitcher Allie Reid had a phenomenal performance as she struck out eight batters while only surrendering two hits.
The Woodgrove girls soccer team dominated play throughout the game against Grafton; however they needed extra time to advance to the next round with a 3-1 overtime victory. Ashley Bonner’s two overtime goals secured Woodgrove’s spot in the semifinal round.
State Softball AA Quarterfinals: Woodgrove 3, Culpeper 0
After a scoreless first inning, Woodgrove was able to get its offense going in the second. Leading off in the second was catcher Christy Haney, who reached first on a walk. Katie Sholl came in as a pinch runner and was immediately able to reach second as the following batter, pitcher Allie Reid laid down a great sacrifice bunt.
The next batter, Delanie Daughtry attempted to help her teammate get to third, but her hit to centerfield was too short to allow Sholl to tag up. With two outs and a runner on second, Rachel Harris hit a shot down the third base line that was overthrown towards the first baseman. The errant throw allowed Harris to safely reach second, while Sholl crossed home plate for the game’s first run.
Culpeper looked to respond to the early Woodgrove score in the top of the third; however their hopes were quashed by a big defensive play. With one out, the Culpeper Blue Devils had a player on first due to a walk. She attempted to steal second, but Haney threw a perfect pickoff ball to her second baseman to get the runner out well before she reached second base.
The Wolverines knew they needed to pad their lead if they wanted to get out of this game with a victory; and despite hitting into a double play early in the third, they would do just that. With two out, Courtney Bogan hit a single and proceeded to steal second on a wild pitch which helped give her team some momentum. The next batter, Ashley Cole, hit a ball to left field that was mishandled and allowed her to reach second, while Bogan easily reached home to double up the score.
As Haney stepped up to the plate, both Cole and she showed off their talents to an unsuspecting Blue Devils defense. First, Cole stole third, and then Haney showed her power as she crushed the ball to deep center field just over the glove of the leaping Culpeper player. The long shot allowed Cole to score while Haney reached second base. Culpeper would be able to retire the next batter, but the damage had already been done.
Even though Woodgrove would not score again for the rest of the game, the offense continued to test the Culpeper team. The offense was led by their catcher Haney, who had two hits, an RBI and was walked once. Cole also had a big game offensively, as she was the only player to both drive in a run and score one of her own.
However, one of the main reasons Woodgrove was able to come away with the victory was the amazing play of pitcher Allie Reid and the defense of the Wolverines.
In seven innings pitched, Reid struck out at least one batter every inning except the third and sixth, where she only had to face the minimum three batters. When she couldn’t retire a batter; her defense came up with a big play to get the out.
“I thought we played hard,” Woodgrove head coach Joe Spicer said. “It wasn’t the best performance offensively, but we pushed runs across and played great defense.”
State Girls Soccer AA Quaterfinals: Woodgrove 3, Grafton 1 OT
In a game dominated by Woodgrove, the Wolverines found themselves down early. After a half of play Grafton had taken a 1-0 lead on the home team. The Grafton Clippers were able to get their opportunities in the first primarily on fast breaks. This was due to the solid team play by Woodgrove to control the ball in the Grafton end of the field, which allowed them to set up some scoring opportunities.
Following a first half that didn’t go their way on the scoreboard, head coach Erin Barrett told her team, “Be confident and patient and the goals will come. We need to put the ball somewhere other than at the goalkeeper.”
Her advice may seem simple, but Grafton goalkeeper Cassie Heinselman seemed to be all over the place as she was able to make over 30 saves throughout the course of the game. Woodgrove started the second half much like they did in the opening frame, with complete control of the ball in the Grafton end of the field. Grafton was able to get the ball past midfield a couple of times early on; however they were turned away before they were ever able to set up in the offensive zone.
The Wolverines began peppering the Clippers goalkeeper with shots, but she was able to constantly come up with huge saves. But with 30:03 left, Woodgrove’s patience paid off as Tabitha McHale was able to break Heinselman’s shutout off of a juicy rebound.
Following the goal, Woodgrove continued to keep up the intensity as they looked for the go-ahead goal. Grafton was able to get a fast break just three minutes later, however the Woodgrove defense was able to get back and force the Grafton player to make a bad decision and kick the ball out-of-bounds.
With 24 minutes left, Grafton developed their first real opportunity of the second half. They were able to control the ball deep in the Woodgrove zone and got their offense going with a big shot 15 yards away from the goal that was just a tad too high, hitting the crossbar.
Despite what looked like it should be Woodgrove’s ball, Grafton kept possession as the referees determined Woodgrove’s goalkeeper Maggie Buxton touched the ball before it hit the crossbar. Grafton was able to continue its offensive control due to a questionable call, but the Woodgrove defense and goalkeeper Buxton were able to prevent any chances of a Grafton lead.
Grafton seemed like they finally were able to get things going for their offense, but it was short lived as Woodgrove was able to regain possession and create some scoring chances of their own. Woodgrove was able to generate several huge opportunities over the next ten minutes, but everyone was turned aside. Tabitha McHale had a chance to get her second goal of the night with 16:30 left as she slid towards the next on an attempt to put in a centering pass from her teammate, but arrived a split-second late as the ball rolled harmlessly out of play.
Victoria Perry had another big opportunity for the Wolverines as she blasted a hard shot from the right side of the net towards the top right corner, but was denied by a fully extended Grafton goalkeeper Cassie Heinselman.
With 5 minutes to go, Grafton generated one of their final big rushes of the game. As they drove down the right side of the field, Grafton was met by Woodgrove defender Katie Beebe who headed the ball away from the breaking Grafton player. If Beebe wasn’t there, Grafton would have had a prime opportunity for a breakaway down the right side of the Woodgrove net.
Woodgrove was able to control the ball or keep it deep in the Grafton zone for the final three minutes of play. With 1:45 left in regulation, Woodgrove was just inches away from getting a late game-winning goal as Tabitha McHale kicked a centering pass that was shot just over the crossbar.
As regulation ended, the game was knotted up at one goal apiece. In playoff soccer, there are two five minute overtime periods, where each team gets to start off with the ball and shoot at both ends. The game will go on until the conclusion of the two five minute frames are up, no matter how many goals are scored.
In the first overtime, Woodgrove started off with the ball. They wasted no time driving down the field and setting up the go ahead goal. With 3:37 remaining in the first overtime, Ashley Bonner put a header past Heinselman.
Bonner added the insurance goal with 1:24 left in the first overtime on a centering pass from Tabitha McHale. Bonner was able to get past the Grafton defender and catch the perfect pass with no one but the goalkeeper in between her and the net.
The first overtime was completely controlled by the Wolverines. During the five minute session, the ball hardly ever crossed the midfield line into the Woodgrove zone.
However, the second overtime was a little bit different. Woodgrove looked like they were trying to maintain the lead rather than add to it. Grafton was able to get into the Woodgrove zone, but the strong defense was able to break up any chance Grafton had at getting off an opportunistic shot.
Even though the game was controlled by Woodgrove throughout its entirety, the defenders were one of the big reasons why Grafton was unable to get anything going for the majority of the game. Beebe was a key part of her team’s offense as she had several shot attempts from just inside the midfield line; while Lucy Etro played the role of a stay-at-home defender, making sure that Grafton was unable to breakout or create anything off of dump-ins.
At the other end of the field, Heinselman was a huge part in why the Wolverines were unable to take care of business in regulation. If not for her outstanding play, the game would have been more one-sided on the scoreboard and Grafton would have never really been in it.
With the victory, Woodgrove will face Blacksburg on Friday, June 8. The game will be a rematch of last year’s state semifinals where Woodgrove lost 1-0.
“All of the players here remember that game,” Barrett said.
They, no doubt, will be looking for revenge.
.JPG)
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