Willman's goal jump starts Chargers

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on March 27, 2014 1:48 PM

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When Wayne Country Day girls' soccer coach Steve Ellis subbed out senior Karis Hawkins for junior Taylor Willman during the first half of Wednesday's game against Freedom Christian Academy, it was just supposed to be an experiment.

"We haven't been able to get on the field," Ellis said. "We've had five practices and one game because of the weather, so I just wanted to see how she would play."

The experiment worked.

In the 25th minute, Willman got the ball from 15 yards out off of a Freedom turnover. She took one touch and bended the shot into the left corner just over the outstretched hands of the keeper. Her goal set the tone for Wayne Country Day on its way to a 3-0 win in Coastal Plains Independent 1-A/2-A Conference play.

"I don't know what happened," Willman said. "I just got it and I kicked it. I didn't even think it was going in."

After a long layoff between games because of weather, the Chargers showed some rust and struggled to communicate with each other. Despite those issues, they played in their attacking third for most of the game.

Freedom reached its attacking third just once in the first half, and in the second half it never had any real threats or scoring opportunities. The Chargers' defense spent much of the match pushing forward to keep the ball in possession and never allowed the Patriots to gain any momentum.

Seven minutes after Willman's goal the Chargers struck again.

Senior Kennedy Dalton fielded a fortunate bounce off of a pass from forward Margaret Tanner, and kicked the ball toward the goal. It deflected off of a Patriots defender and into the net.

"Margaret passed it and yelled 'kick it,'" Dalton said. "So I kicked it."

The Chargers struck one last time in the 75th minute.

Seventh-grader Langley Barnes converted a Patriots, turnover from near the edge of the 18-yard box and tucked a shot into the right corner of the net.

The goalie had come out too far and was unable to retreat in time to stop Barnes' shot.

Even though they didn't show up in the goal column Tanner and sophomore Allison Bailey helped pace the Wayne Country Day offensive attack. Bailey's footwork and quick passing kept the Chargers in constant possession of the ball.

Tanner's speed and hustle gave her numerous scoring opportunities that on another, perhaps, may have resulted in a few goals.

"I think at times she was trying a little too hard to get a goal, and you can't blame her for wanting to score," Ellis said. "But we might need to dial her back a little bit so she doesn't force it. She's going to get her goals. I'm not worried about that."