What a turnaround
She spun around and collapsed to the ground like a boxer who had just been caught by an uppercut.
But when she stood up and ran off the field just seconds later it was a symbolic moment that perhaps reminded people of the West Holmes girls soccer program as a whole, which has taken its lumps and been knocked to the ground plenty of times over its nine-year existence, only to get up off the mat and keep fighting to get better every time.
And this time when the final horn sounded, the Lady Knights were the last team standing, having beaten Lady Lex 2-1 to capture their first OCC Tournament title and complete an amazing turnaround, during which they went winless in conference play a year ago, and racked up a 1-4-1 record in their first go around with OCC foes this year, before knocking off the number two, three, and four seeds in this year’s tournament, while collecting the program’s first ever wins over Madison, Clear Fork and Lexington.
“I don’t want to say that we started it and take anything away from the girls who actually did start it, but we’ve stepped it up for West Holmes soccer,” said senior forward, and 2010 leading scorer, Jordan Buchanan, who put the Lady Knights out in front early in the championship game when sophomore forward Abby Callahan’s corner kick ricocheted off a Lexington defender and she was there to rocket one home from just outside the right elbow of the keeper’s box less than two minutes into the action. “I remember our freshman year, we were happy if we got a good loss, like, ‘Hey, they only beat us by one.’ Now we’re actually winning games. We just won the tournament.”
But not before taking a few more lumps… literally, as senior defensive leader Amy Boyd tweaked her knee during a one-on-one sliding collision with a Lexington striker – forcing her to the West Holmes sideline for several minutes – and junior midfielder Courtney Kozak took an accidental elbow to the face while going up for a header, which caused swelling above her right eye and caused West Holmes team statistician Tim Callahan to say, “I think first blood has been drawn here in the OCC.”
The most painful blow came when Lady Lex tied the game with 20:53 remaining in the first-half, however, as McKenzie Williams got the ball just inside the penalty box on the left side and beat West Holmes junior goalkeeper Shelby Harris into the lower opposite corner.
“It’s definitely nice to have that [one goal] cushion, but it hurts to give up that one goal,” explained Harris, after allowing what turned out to be her only goal of the entire tournament, after pitching shutouts at Madison and Clear Fork. “To lose it, it’s definitely very painful.”
Lady Lex keeper Jaclyn Rourke felt pain of a different kind 6:53 later, when Buchanan nearly beat her again, chasing a through ball into the right side of the penalty box and looking to unload with her right foot just as Rourke arrived, sliding headfirst toward the ball and colliding with Buchanan’s foot on a clean play that left the Lexington net minder on the ground for a few extra moments.
“You never know when a goalie’s going to drop it,” said Buchanan, as the game reached halftime tied at one apiece, with both teams even on shots (4), corners (1) and keeper saves (2). “If they do drop it and you’re there, it’s a perfect scoring opportunity.”
Buchanan proved that point at the 27:40 mark of the second half, when Rourke dove to block a Kozak shot from the left side of the penalty box and the West Holmes senior was there to knock the loose ball into the opposite corner, giving the Lady Knights a 2-1 lead.
“Courtney took the shot, the goalie fumbled it and there’s Jordan again,” explained fourth-year West Holmes head coach Josh Wengerd. “I called her Johnny on the Spot in the first-half and she just proved it in the second-half too. Two goals just from being in the right spot and on her toes ready. We’ve talked about finishing all season and she finished two good ones tonight.”
“I hoped she would be there,” said Kozak afterward. “We both did our jobs. I assisted, she scored and we won because of it.”
But not until the defense managed to kill the clock, as Harris and the West Holmes D amped up for the final 27 minutes, while Lexington head coach Roxanne Drueschler eventually switched to a 3-4-3 to create added pressure and scoring opportunities.
“The adrenaline is pumping like crazy after that goal because I know I can’t let anything else in,” explained Harris. “It’s not an option.”
And it never became a reality as Harris and the rest of the Lady Knights threw themselves in front of everything Lady Lex tried to unload at them and played mistake free during a driving rain storm throughout the latter part of the game.
“The OCC is a physical place,” said West Holmes senior midfielder Ashten Spencer, who put herself between the goal and Lexington forward Maddie Collins with 19:27 to play, taking a blast to the midsection when Collins fired away from just inside the left corner of the penalty box, dropping Spencer to her hands and knees, and leaving an the outline of the soccer ball emblazoned on her stomach. “When people get intense like that anything can happen. All people really want is a goal and they’ll do anything to get it, but you’ve just got to fight back.
“I would rather take that any day rather than lose a game. It was definitely worth every little piece of pain.”
Kozak agreed, coming momentarily off the field as the final seconds ticked off the clock and shouting, “My bump was worth it.
“It’s indescribable,” she later said. “We were ranked last last season and this year we won the tournament. That doesn’t happen very often.”
No it doesn’t, especially for a No. 6 seed.
“We had to become road warriors,” explained Wengerd. “In this tournament the higher seed hosts, so we didn’t want to host. We wanted to be on the road because that meant we kept on winning.
“It was a good game,” he added. “It was back-and-forth. We were on our heels a little bit toward the end of the game. They really put the pressure on us defensively, but luckily they’re not a team like Wooster with the big scoring threats.”
With its big scoring threats, top-seeded Wooster fell to Clear Fork 2-0 at the same time West Holmes was polishing off Lexington, to finish fourth in the tournament, but because of the points the Lady Generals earned throughout the regular season they finished in first place in the final OCC standings, ahead of Clear Fork, Madison and Lexington.
With its unbelievable tournament run, West Holmes earned enough points to leapfrog Ashland for fifth-place, giving the Lady Knights their highest conference finish ever – with the Arrows and Mansfield Senior rounding out the standings.
“That’s kind of where I thought we should be,” said Wengerd. “In the middle of the pack. And we’re there.”
They’re there after nine years of bumps and bruises and continually picking themselves up off the mat.
They’re also right where they want to be heading into their Division II Philo Sectional Tournament opener against John Glenn, on Tuesday, Oct. 18, in Dresden.
“I think we have a good level of confidence right now,” said Buchanan. “We are West Holmes girls soccer and we will compete with anyone.”
Published: October 13, 2011
