Woodbury Leads Girls Soccer To 4-2 Win In Season Opener
David Creed •
Junior Emma Woodbury will be one of several Whalers pegged with the task of filling the scoring void left by Adney Brannigan, who graduated this past June as the girls soccer program’s all-time leading scorer. Woodbury started her season off strong with two goals to help Nantucket beat the Sturgis West Navigators 4-2 at the Nobadeer Turf Fields Tuesday evening in what head coach Doug LeBrecht called a “very encouraging” season opener.
"I was super impressed," LeBrecht said. "Our outside defensive back game is totally different than we have ever had. It's such a good feeling. We brought Boris (Nikolov) on (to the coaching staff). That was his specialty, defensive back, when he played. Our second goal was a win from our outside back, Grace (Schroeder). We've never had that before, and they're in shape enough to get back and cover. Harper (LeBrecht) and the other six shut them down. I was really impressed overall, and Madden (Myers, goalie) was awesome. She was coming up out of the net and playing 40 yards out, if she hadn’t on some of those plays Sturgis gets the ball, they develop a play on her, and it's a one vs one. I was very excited about this season opener.”
Woodbury scored her two goals in the games first seven minutes, and then the Navigators cut Nantucket’s lead to 2-1 eight minutes and thirty seconds into the game. The Whalers generated several high-quality scoring chances throughout the remainder of the first half but were unable to extend their lead and went into halftime leading 2-1.
Sutton LeBrecht gave the Whalers an insurance goal early in the second half, but Sturgis was able to make it a one goal game again with just over 14 minutes left to play. That was when LeBrecht called a timeout, took senior captain Chelsea Gross out for a quick breather, and once he inserted her back into the game she quickly scored off an assist from Woodbury to make it a 4-2 game with just over 11 minutes left in the game.
“Emma really dug in today,” LeBrecht said. “We just got to keep her healthy. She's an impact player. She really is.”
LeBrecht was also impressed with Gabby Nikolova and her play in the back.
"The tenacity she has to just come through the crowd, take that sting out of him, and I really think they avoid her," LeBrecht said. "She puts that fear into people. She's going to run through you. I think they try to stay off that corner of the field. Gabby is always a good player."
Nantucket now heads on the road to play the Div. 3 Falmouth Clippers Thursday, September 4th at 3:30 p.m.
“Falmouth is a division three school so it should be a good game,” LeBrecht said. But this was a really encouraging first game and a great way to start the season. A lot of good things out there.”
