Giants finish perfect S. Valley season with tourney win

By Corine Gatti

Published: May 21, 2008

Waynesboro coach Bill Meicke pumped his fists and jumped out from the coaches box after the Little Giants soccer team was crowned the Southern Valley District tournament champs, routing Stuarts Draft 5-0 Wednesday night in the tournament championship game.
With the win the Little Giants finished with a perfect 10-0 Southern Valley District record. The Little Giants will head into the Region III tournament as the No. 1 seed from the district and will host a team to be announced.
“I was pretty excited,” Meicke said. “We really wanted to put an exclamation point on our season and I think we did that in a pretty emphatic way.”
The Giants played another physical match and kept the pressure on Draft accumulating 20 shots on goal in the first half. Mark Ostrander ripped the first goal that set the tone for the game. The purple and white clad Little Giants scored three goals in the first half.
“We wanted show who was the aggressor,” Ostrander said. “We wanted to just prove a point in our next game. We want to go to regionals and make a statement there.”
Martin Mandujano proved why he was named the Southern Valley District Player of the Year. Mandujano scored three goals in the game, looking up and pointing to the sky after his last goal of the contest. His fancy footwork and lighting speed gave the Cougar defenders headaches all night.
“I was thinking that today is my game, this is my night and I have to show my people why I was player of the year,” Mandujano said. “We are going to be champs and keep working hard to be the state champs. I want that for me, my family, my team and my coach.”
Mandujano was grateful about his experience this season with the Giants.
“I’m just so thankful for Jesus Christ for allowing me to play this game and all the people that came out to see us” he said.
His coach touted his star player.
“Martin played like a man who wants goals. He was possessed. He wanted to play well and he’s always a big-game player,” Meicke said. “He was fantastic today.”
Waynesboro took advantage of key Stuarts Draft mistakes to pick up the win.
“They’re a good enough team that when we had a defensive and a mental lapse, they took advantage of it,” Cougar coach Chris Loomis. “There are four simple things to this game and when we did it, we outplayed them. When we didn’t do it, they outplayed us.”
Meicke said that the Giants played a solid match.
“That was the best played game of the year. It was tactically good and the skills were there and it was fun to watch,” he said.
The Little Giants last won a district title in 2005, when they were still members of the Valley District, and have had 76 wins over the last five seasons Meicke said.
“We showed tonight who is the best,” Meicke said. “It really felt good that all the work we have put into this season, it has paid off.”