Woodbridge sweeps soccer doubleheader

By Joe Conroy

Published: April 18, 2008

It took more than 85 minutes of play, but Shondel Archer came through for the Woodbridge girls soccer team against Forest Park once again.

Archer, a junior forward for the Vikings, cleaned up a loose ball in front of the Bruin goalkeeper and tapped it into the net for the lone goal in a 1-0 win to open the Vikings-Bruins doubleheader Friday night at Woodbridge.

The Viking boys completed the sweep for the night with a 2-0 victory in the second game.

Kathleen Smith launched a free kick from just inside the midfield line and the ball bounced off several players from each team before Archer got a foot on it and directed it into the goal.

“When we shot it through Rihana [Williams] headed it and I just tried to make sure I got a touch on it,” Archer said.

Several times during the game Archer used her speed to beat the Bruins defenders but could not get a clean shot on the goal.

“I did get a lot of opportunities [to score],” she said, “but I guess the pressure, being rivals with Forest Park, got to me a little bit.”

Archer scored 10 goals in 2007, three of which came in games against the Bruins (two were game-winners).

“You won’t find anybody that works harder than her,” Vikings coach Scott Kerns said of Archer. “For some reason she seems to find a way to put it in the net for us against Forest Park. She’s just a hard worker.

“She deserves to score a lot more, because she works so hard and she’s so athletic sometimes people have a hard time dealing with her speed,” Kerns added.

The Vikings (8-1, 3-0 in Cardinal District play) dominated possession in both halves, allowing Forest Park (5-2-1, 1-1-1) few touches on the ball. Despite that accomplishment, Kerns felt there was room for improvement from his players.

“It wasn’t our best. I didn’t feel we played as well as we could,” Kerns said. “Our touch was letting us down tonight. We weren’t playing to feet and we lost possession way too easy. There were a lot of times where we just lost possession on our own. But I’m not going to complain too much.”

In the back-half of the twinbill, Woodbridge (4-2, 2-1) exorcised demons of a sort beating their annual rivals.

A score 14:10 into the game took the pressure off the Vikings who have struggled against the Bruins (3-2-1, 2-1) in recent years.

“Yeah, that took the pressure off and we knew we could just play defense,” said junior midfielder Henock Mesfin who scored Woodbridge’s first goal.

“It was crossed over and there was a deflection and I just shot it in,” Mesfin succinctly said of his score.

The Vikings added a Brian Lybert goal on a free kick from about 30 yards out and just inside the home sideline. Lybert lifted the ball over the defense and it sailed just out of reach of a jumping, outstretched goalkeeper.

“We’ve been working on set pieces for the last two days,” Woodbridge coach Don Allen said, “and it was a combination of planning and luck there. We were looking for a cross to the back post and it just kind of snuck in.”

Forest Park coach Ken Krieger felt his team was overmatched by Woodbridge’s team speed.

“They came out full of vim and vigor and their speed is probably better than what we have,” Krieger said. “We made two mistakes and they cost us goals.

“When the goalkeeper allows the ball to go over his head when the ball is in the air like a fair catch for football, I find that unacceptable to a point,” Krieger added. “He said he misjudged it. To me, I find that unacceptable… especially for a guy of Pat Nuckols’ caliber.”