WINDSOR — The Windsor High girls soccer team had chances but couldn’t capitalize, falling to local rival Springfield High, 1-0, at MacLeay-Royce Field on Wednesday afternoon.
The Yellow Jackets (5-5) of VPA Division III had a tall task ahead of them on Wednesday, facing a squad that not only plays in D-II but was 8-0 entering the contest. Not to mention, Windsor was down a starting forward due to illness.
That said, the Jacks gave the Cosmos their closest game of the season, behind a strong performance from sophomore keeper Addison Crane, who had 14 saves on the afternoon.
“Overall, I feel like we weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be winning some of those 50/50 balls; we could have done a better job at being first to the ball,” said Jen Rupp, one of Windsor’s co-head coaches.
“I think that we had some opportunities we just couldn’t finish, and we left our marks a little bit too much… It easily could have been a 1-1, or it could have been a 1-0 us on the other end. I think we just didn’t take advantage of some of our opportunities,” she added.
In a physical battle, the Cosmos generated offensive pressure early, largely by corralling Crane’s punts, which eventually helped fuel the Jacks’ offense later in the game.
In the first 10 minutes, Springfield drew a couple of corners, but it couldn’t find the back of the net.
That changed, though, as with 28:26 remaining in the first half, Crane dove to her right and thwarted a Cosmos’ shot with her outstretched hands, but freshman Adela Fuentes followed the strike and cleaned up the rebound that trickled away from the Jacks’ keeper, scoring what proved to be the game-deciding goal.
Springfield continued to press the Jacks as the first half wore on, but Windsor ramped up its pressure with about 12 minutes left.
In what was probably the Jacks’ best chance in the latter portion of the first half, senior Callie Spaulding made a run down the right sideline with about 6:45 left.
The senior sent a cross in that Springfield’s keeper punched out to a wide-open Windsor player at the top of the 18-yard box, senior Jaylin Lyman, who sent the shot over the net.
Windsor carried some of that offensive momentum in the second half, continuing to pressure the Cosmos.
In what might have been the Jacks’ best chance of the contest, Spaulding, deep inside the 18-yard box, sent a shot wide after a throw-in from junior Autum Reed was misplayed by two Cosmos defenders with about 15:30 minutes remaining.
In the end, though, Windsor couldn’t find the back of the net in the final 40 minutes, solidifying a scoreless second half for both squads and a 1-0 defeat for the Jacks.
At this point in the season, co-head coach Wendy Moody acknowledged that her squad is still building chemistry and working on aspects of their game as it gears up for a postseason run.
“Matching up with a D-II school and keeping it 1-0 is not a bad day for us, as we just told the girls: they’ll live and learn from the opportunity today,” Moody said.
“We’re making gains — and obviously we know we have some areas that we still need to work on, and we’ll keep plugging away at that,” she added.
Windsor has been a strong program in recent memory, most notably winning a D-III state title in 2024. The Jacks also had an unbeaten stretch that began after a loss in the 2023 state championship to Stowe and continued until last season’s overtime loss to Peoples Academy in the quarterfinals.
That said, the Jacks have been retooling this season, as they lost six key starters from a year ago, which is a challenge for a small program that does not have enough numbers to field a JV squad with just 18 players.
“They are definitely playing in the shadow of a really winning program, so they definitely know that has sort of been our MO for quite some time, and so we’ve had to adjust and be real about how many positions we’re filling and how many more players we’re bringing to the field,” Moody said.
“We’re asking a lot of some freshmen that have come in and started to play key positions,” she added.
The personnel changes have also shifted how this iteration of the Jacks will succeed.
“What we’ve told them all season is we don’t need to score 10 goals a game like we used to; we just need to score more than the other team,” Rupp said. “We don’t need to always score the 50 to 75 goals a season we used to.”
Ultimately, Moody indicated this team was in a good spot.
“I think we’re in a good position where we are at in this point in the season, and we’re just going to keep digging,” she said.
Up next for Windsor is a road matchup with Green Mountain on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
