Two Late Goals Propel Generals Past Woodson

It wasn’t as easy as many expected it might be to defeat the 5-9-2 Woodson Cavaliers, but in the end the Generals prevailed with a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Eric Schmidt and Alan Ochoa in the final ten minutes.   The Generals have now won their last seven games by a combined score of 26-0.

The Generals dominated possession and created the majority of the chances on goal, as All-District keeper Robert Dewald was only forced into one save. While the crowd began to get restless as time ticked away with the score even, Washington-Lee head coach Jimmy Carrasquillo knew it was only a matter of time.

“Teams have begun to drop everybody back in defense against us,” he explained.  “We just knew if we kept control of the game and remained patient, eventually it would come.”

As the play went back and forth in the first half, the Generals seemed confident on the ball, but they lacked the quality in the final third to test the Woodson keeper.  Finally, with six minutes left in the period, defender Jack Beckman came charging out of the back to set up Carlos Dellagostino, who beat the keeper with the shot, only to see it cleared off the line by a Cavalier defender. The teams went into the halftime break without a goal.

The Generals came out firing in the second half. Dellagostino stole the ball within the first minute of play to create a one-on-one opportunity, but this time the Woodson keeper was up for the task, making a spectacular save to maintain the deadlock.  The Generals kept the pressure on with a series of shots and corner kicks, but the Woodson defense refused to give one up. Dellagostino also had pair of perfect passes to set up both Schmidt and Keith Ricks, only to see the ensuing shots miss the target. 

Schmidt, clearly mad at himself for missing the point blank opportunity, responded in a major way, putting the generals on the board in the 70th minute.    When Branko Picavia broke down the left side, cut it back to his right and knocked in the cross, Schmidt met it at the back post to head it home. Knowing the Cavs had to come back with everything they had to get the equalizer, Carrasquillo put in fresh legs, and was rewarded with a beautiful breakaway goal from Alan Ochoa to ice the game.

“Alan was hungry,” Carrasquillo said.  “He wanted a goal from the previous game, so we put him in at the end knowing he would work hard, and it paid off.”

Now, with sights set on much larger goals of winning W-L’s first regional championship in over 20 years, Carrasquillo remains confident in his team’s game plan.

“Our style is to knock it around,” he explained.  “If we can continue to be patient, while also getting out in the open field and going to goal, we will continue to be successful.”

The Generals will continue their quest on Wednesday night at Robinson High School.  A win Wednesday night will put the Generals in state tournament.