Brentsville girls suffer first setback of season
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By DAN ANGELL
For the News & Messenger
Published: May 22, 2008
“It was a beautiful shot,” Brentsville coach Sean Weddel said. “It was good intensity by Morgan. She puts it on goal and she proved she can make something at the point when it takes the most.”
But four minutes later, Handley’s Kaley Bender stole the moment. She beat the Tigers’ defense for what proved to be the winning goal and ended Brentsville’s perfect run through the 2008 cam-paign with a 3-2 loss.
“It was all pretty quick,” Bender said. “I got a really good through pass and bypassed one of their defenders. I was kind of surprised that it even went in.”
Weddel wasn’t as surprised with the kick, calling Bender’s goal a “wonderful play by Handley.”
“They got the ball through and they finished,” Weddel said. “It takes one person to play the ball through and another person to finish, (they) did well, and you can’t stop that.”
In addition to handing Brentsville its first loss of the year, Handley also ended the Tigers’ 50-match winning streak against the Northwestern District. But Weddel remained positive in the aftermath of his team’s first loss to a Handley team that has steadily improved its program.
“The styles meshed together really well,” he said. “This is the way soccer is played, up and down, goods and bads, players with heart and intensity on both teams. It’s almost honoring to lose to a team like Handley, because they’re good, and they played a great game tonight.”
With perfection no longer a possibility for the Tigers, the players’ focus shift to determination to recover in time for Wednesday’s regional semifinal.
“We were saying, ‘We still have Wednesday, we still have Wednesday,’” Brentsville’s Julianna Willis said. “We know that it’s do-or-die on Wednesday. I think we’re going to have more of the motivation of picking it up and playing with more heart.”
But Willis added that frustration at seeing the undefeated season slip away came with that com-fort.
“We wanted to have that perfect season,” she said. “I’m not happy that we lost, but at the same time, it’s good for us, it’s a reality check that we’re not unbeatable.”
The frustration could be eased by the fact that the Tigers need just one win to advance to the state tournament. Brentsville has earned a bye to the region semifinals and will play the winner of a quarterfinal between Charlottesville and Briar Woods.
“I know that Charlottesville has a great team, I don’t know much about Briar Woods,” Weddel said. “Hopefully we can spin this emotion in this loss into something positive on Wednesday when we face the winner of the Charlottesville-Briar Woods game.”
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