SOUTH ROYALTON — After two September losses to Fair Haven, the Woodstock High girls soccer team supposedly has some new strategies to deploy against the Slaters. Next week, the Wasps will put those strategies to the test with their season on the line.
The fifth seed in the VPA Division III playoffs lost leading scorer Isabel Konijnenberg to an ankle injury but won Friday’s quarterfinal, 2-1, at No. 4 seed White River Valley. Top-seeded Fair Haven awaits the Wasps (11-5-0) in Tuesday’s semifinals.
“The role players rose to the occasion and exceeded my and their expectation,” Woodstock coach Greg LaBella said. “I’m also proud of the way everybody came off the bench and withstood very good pressure by White River Valley.”
Konijnenberg may have played just a quarter of the game, but that was more than enough time for the senior to leave her mark. After a pair of corner kicks in the first 10 minutes failed to produce a goal, Konijnenberg caught up with the ball just before it crossed the baseline in the 14th minute and, from a tight angle, somehow found space to get the ball past Wildcats goalkeeper Ellie Prestridge to give the Wasps an early lead.
Six minutes later, though, Konijnenberg and Woodstock’s mood was far from celebratory. The three-sport standout was chasing after a loose ball in the box as Prestridge came up to try to get it first. The two collided, and Konijnenberg was helped off the field by her teammates, unable to put pressure on her leg. She was taken to the hospital at halftime.
“It inspired the players. You could see it in their body language,” LaBella said. “They knew they had to dig deep. They didn’t have to say anything. And I assume they’re going to be inspired as they go into the semifinal game.”
With Konijnenberg out, the Wasps turned to junior striker Chloe Masillo to generate offense, and in the 33rd minute, Masillo was knocked down in the 18-yard box just after passing the ball away. Junior midfielder Leah Kuhnert scored on the resulting penalty kick to double Woodstock’s lead.
“We’ve been practicing PKs a lot, and all you need to do is make sure you’re calmed down,” Kuhnert said. “That’s what I was trying to do, put it on net. (Konijnenberg’s injury) put a little fire in us. It made us want it a little bit more.”
WRV (11-3-2) did not go down easily, with senior forward Jillian Barry putting her team on the board in the first minute of the second half. The Wildcats continued to put pressure on the Wasps’ defense and sophomore goalkeeper Jane Stout as they pushed for an equalizer. In the 54th minute, Stout dropped Barry’s long free kick, leading to a scrum in front of the net, but Woodstock kept it out and maintained the lead.
For coach Kim Prestridge — Ellie’s mother — and her team, it was their most successful season since the merger of South Royalton, Whitcomb and Chelsea high schools. WRV won its first playoff game in program history in the opening round Tuesday and will lose seniors Barry, Ellie Prestridge, Ella Perreault and Shannon Hadlock.
“This is what we’re made of,” Kim Prestridge said. “We didn’t get a lot of chances to play like this this year because our schedule was kind of easy, but this is what they do. When it gets down to it, they get together, they get out and win balls first; they make passes.
“They gave everything they had out there. At the end, it didn’t happen.”
Stout made eight saves for the Wasps, who lost in the Division II final last fall before dropping to D-III this year. They will get a third crack at Fair Haven in an attempt to make it back to championship weekend.
It will be a much tougher task without Konijnenberg, but Woodstock has overcome injuries all season.
“Getting to play Fair Haven again was one of our goals coming into this game,” Kuhnert said. “We’ve been close. We deserve to be there, and we’re going to come out hard. It will be exciting for everyone.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.