Girls' Soccer: W.T. Woodson 3, West Springfield 0

By Phil Murphy
Content Editor, DigitalSports

**Check below the story for a video player with highlights from Tuesday's game, and post-game, and others from this season.**

In a match between two nationally-ranked teams, W.T. Woodson traveled to West Springfield on Tuesday hoping to get off to a hot start.

A mere 90 seconds in, the Cavaliers got their wish.

Woodson senior Diana Weigel headed a Courtney Owen corner kick inside the far post in the second minute to spark what proved a 3-0 win, the Cavaliers' eighth in a row.

"When you play a team like West Springfield, you have to put one away early so you get some confidence," said Weigel, whose team is ranked ninth in North Carolina and Virginia (Region II) by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. "Courtney Owen had an amazing cross. All I had to do was time it well and redirect it ... and, luckily, I got it."

Added Cavalier Coach Sharon Andrulot: "We've been scoring early a lot this year. [Weigel] started us off, put us on the right foot and we kept going for it."

After a quick flurry by West Springfield, ranked second in Region II and 12th nationally, W.T. Woodson doubled its margin by way of a second successful set piece. In the 27th minute, a short corner from Owen led to a cross into the penalty area and, after the ball dangled impiously in the six-yard box, junior substitute Niki Mercier poked a shot past Spartan goalkeeper Beth Anne Nowak.

"We hadn't capitalized on a lot of set pieces," said Andrulot, whose team now boasts the best record in the Northern Region. "But lately we have been. It's something we've been working on. We didn't give up inside the 18, they didn't give up ... and those things happen."

Holding a more comfortable margin, Woodson packed it in defensively to prevent a West Springfield response.

But as the game entered the second half, the Cavaliers' play opened underneath the overcast sky and their attack shined through.

In the 53rd minute, Mercier received a clearing pass near midfield and put the game away. The junior striker changed pace, split two Spartan defenders and trickled a shot underneath a sliding Nowak for her second goal of the game.

"I like to dribble," said Mercier, who has scored six goals in Woodson's past three games. "I'm that kind of player. I like being tricky. I was just dribbling and doing what I like doing, and it happened to go in."

In West Springfield's first scoreless game of the season, all-everything Spartan junior Amalya Clayton provided a temporary spark off the bench, but played limited minutes. Clayton spent the past five days in the coincidentally-named Sparta, Ga., due to the passing of a family member and had missed two games.

"I knew coming in Woodson is the best team I've seen," said West Springfield Coach Kellie Mastrodonato, whose schedule has already featured Northern Region front-runners Chantilly, Robinson, Lake Braddock, Stone Bridge and Westfield. "Player-for-player, they're skilled and they play well together. They're very organized. They're very intelligent.

"I don't know if our girls got set back by the goal in the beginning. But it was good for them, for the next 10 minutes, to do okay. I think maybe the second goal is what put them under. After that, we just played completely flat.

"Against a team like this, you can’t have an off-night."

Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com

                              1   2  --   F
W.T. Woodson       2   1  --  3
West Springfield   0   0  --  0

Goals:
WT -- Weigel (2)
WT -- Mercier (27)
WT -- Mercier (53)