by Chip Carter
Mills Godwin Correspondent
Mills Godwin junior and Colonial District player of the year Ellen Upton is naturally soft-spoken and reserved. Her play on the soccer field, however, is consistently loud and forceful.
With Upton finding balls, both in the midfield and near the goal, with her feet and her head, Godwin frustrated top-seeded Deep Run on way to the Colonial District tournament championship with a 2-0 win Thursday.
Scoring opportunities were rare in the first half as the defenses thwarted anything productive. The closest thing to a score came off the big foot of Deep Run junior defender Chaney LaReau, who is dangerous on free kicks from as far as 65 yards away.
Her free kick from midfield was punched over the goal by Godwin sophomore keeper Jessie Ashworth. That shot proved to be the Wildcats’ most dangerous shot for the night.
Godwin assistant coach Miranda Watson made half-time adjustments to her outside midfielder positions due to both strategy and injury.
Just prior to halftime, senior outside midfielder Kelsey Carter took a Wildcat shoe to the head and was held out for the remainder of the game. On the opposite side, Watson moved senior Becca Haislip to an outside defender position.
Eagle reserves juniors Alayna Vaughan, Jessica Atar, Virginia Gordon and sophomore Sharon Williams, just up from the JV, filled the outside mid positions and all performed solidly during the second half.
“I told them at halftime that the winner would be the team that made the proper adjustments,” said Watson.
The second half then saw the omnipresent Upton and the Eagles begin to gain a possession advantage and capitalize on second half set pieces with Upton. At 23:40 mark Haislip struck a free kick from midfield that Upton headed past Deep Run freshman keeper Hannah Moyer and into the net for a 1-0 lead.
The Eagle defensive line, senior Emily Ornelas and junior Anna Boyce on the inside and sophomore Maggie Lumpkin, freshman Catherine Coggeshall, and Haislip on the outside, frustrated the Wildcats’ skilled attackers, holding firm and making good decisions throughout the second half.
“I thought our whole line played really well,” said Ornelas, a four-year starter.
Godwin pressed its possession advantage and earned a corner kick at the 9:30 mark. Vaughan’s kick reached the ground after being knocked around by both teams, and Godwin junior Lauren Abraham slotted in through an open path from about 10 yards away for a 2-0 lead.
Upton continued to gather and redirect seemingly every midfield ball to her teammates for the final nine minutes of the game and Deep Run never really mounted another dangerous opportunity.
Asked about the player of the year honor, Upton said, “I never thought in a million years I’d be player of the year. There’s no way I could ever live up to Anne [Lumpkin, last year’s district, region, and state player of the year from Godwin], but it’s nice to be recognized for the hard work.”
Ornelas now will end her high school career about as well as any athlete could hope. She is a four-year starter with four straight district championships.
“It’s awesome!” said a gleaming Ornelas.
Godwin moved to 12-4-1 and will travel to face Capital District champion Atlee at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday evening in the first round of the Central Region tournament. Deep Run fell to 9-6 and will host Lee-Davis at 5:30 that same evening.
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