Giants blank Fort, move to No. 2 in SVD

FORT DEFIANCE – In a command performance, Waynesboro clamped down Fort Defiance’s Sidney Gardner, last season’s Southern Valley District player of the year, while using three second-half goals, including two from Taylor Sayre, propelling the Little Giants to a 4-0 win Friday over the Indians.

Gardner, marked most of the match by Little Giants freshman Meredith Figgatt, was held to just one shot. The Indians had seven for the match, but just two in the second half.

“We played very well all around,” said Little Giants coach Dani Almarode. “We had lots of girls playing lots of positions they haven’t played this year.”

Some of the adjustments are due to a season ending knee injury to Jennah Gnann.

After weathering some pressure from Fort, the Little Giants got on the board first, as Bree Simonsen, from the left corner, sent a cross into the box for Ali Zook, who put a left-footed shot from 10 yards out into the left corner for the early lead 13 minutes into the match.

“The girls, basically once they score once, they kind of start getting the confidence boost,” Almarode said. “They start clicking, they start passing [and] they start stepping up on defense. They played a very good game against a very aggressive and talented Fort team.”

Simonsen also set up the Little Giants’ second goal with her pass to Vicki Andersen, who put a left-footed shot from 12 yards into the right corner past Fort goalkeeper Claire Trainum to go up by two goals less than five minutes into the second half.

Ten minutes later, Sayre pressured Fort defender Chloe Emerson into a turnover, sprinting more than 50 yards to win possession before getting tugged inside the 18-yard box and earning a penalty kick. Sayre put her right-footed attempt into the right corner to put the Little Giants up 3-0. For Sayre, it was her second penalty kick conversion this season.

“There was an opening, so I kind of went for it and happened to get the ball, took it from her, and got taken down,” Sayre said.

Sayre closed out the scoring with 16 minutes left, using the inside of her right foot to deftly place the ball past Trainum in the right corner. 

“The coaches really stress in practice how you can’t score unless you have offensive movement,” Sayre said. “And so we practice moving the ball back and forth to each other and make sure that we’re constantly in front of the defense and always trying to have the right position on them. And that’s kind of how it happened.”

Fort coach Brad Morris said Waynesboro played fast and tough, while his team made some defensive mistakes and had what he described as “a hack in the box” in giving up the penalty kick.

“Waynesboro played well,” Morris said. “They played their positions well. They did everything that they’re supposed to do. We had some defensive collapses.”

Morris said his team normally plays a 4-3-3 formation, with four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards, but adjusted defensively to play a 3-4-3 and push players forward to try to come from behind.

“We made a defensive change, it didn’t necessarily work,” Morris said.

Waynesboro (7-4, 4-2 district), which moved to second behind R.E. Lee in the Southern Valley with the win, next plays at home on Monday against district foe Rockbridge in a makeup match, while Fort (8-4, 3-2 district) next plays at home May 1 against Lee.

“I’m not going to lie, we’d probably very enjoy winning districts,” Sayre said. “But we’re going to have to work our butts off. It’s not an easy task.”