By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As little as three weeks ago, Wrianna Hudson’s status for the 2023 High School Soccer season was unknown.
Surgery on an injured ankle left the Greece Athena senior watching from the sidelines.
Hudson returned to game action on September 25th. Friday night she made her presence known like few others can.
The 6-foot-1 forward scored both goals in host Athena’s 2-1 win over Canandaigua.
The second marker garnered national recognition.
“I think that’s one of my best,” she said of the goal. “I just really wanted it because my team worked so hard the whole game. We did really well, so I had to do something to get us this win.”
With less than 14 minutes remaining in the match, Hudson took possession of the ball in the middle third of the field. She was 30 yards from the Canandaigua goal with one defender on her. She turned to her left and used a pair of touches to advance the ball. Another defender slowed her progress just outside the 6-yard box.
This is where it gets good.
There she cut back to the middle of the pitch and stepped through a third defender. Two more opponents tried to stop her. She split them and somehow, someway she had enough body control to juke the last defender before blasting a shot that tucked under the crossbar.
If this was a Buffalo Sabres’ game, the late Rick Jeanneret would bellow, “Where momma hides the cookies!”
If this was a football game, Barry Sanders just left a host of linemen and defensive backs in his wake. That is if the hall-of-fame running back could stop at the end of one of his runs and put a ball through the uprights.
“It was all instinct,” Hudson said. “I just had to get to the goal and do whatever I could to get there.’”
As she let fly with a right-footed blast, seven Canandaigua players, including the keeper, surrounded her. There was no stopping Wrianna Hudson.
“She’s a great player, and great players make great plays,” said Canandaigua head coach Bryan Peck. ” It’s tough to contain her for the whole game. That’s what happens in soccer.”
A First-Team All-State member a year ago, the Florida State commit led Monroe County with 32 goals and 71 points. Her two goals Friday night were her second and third of the season and helped Athena (5-5-0) to its fourth win in the past six games.
“We did not expect Wri to play this season,” Athena head coach Jeremiah Bergan said. “When she came back to me a couple weeks ago and said ‘I want to get back out there on the field.’ You think about how to take this team that’s been playing well together and fit her into that puzzle. You always find a place for a player like Wri.
“In the second half, what it came down to is a couple of individual, athletic plays from her to finish the game off.”
She found the back of the net in a 2-1 loss to Pittsford Sutherland on Wednesday. Her first goal on Friday was highlight-reel worthy as well.
Teammate Haley Drake served a corner kick from the right flag that Hudson headed into the net for a 1-nil lead.
Abbey Cangemi leveled the match for Canandaigua with 18:32 remaining in the contest.
Athena outshot Canandaigua 11-3 in the first half with an 8-3 advantage in shots on frame.
The Trojans, though, managed just three shots on goal in the second half.
“They were really good at pressing,” Hudson said of Canandaigua. “They had a really strong defensive line. They didn’t give us any space. We definitely had to figure out and adapt to that. Usually we can pass and get open shots, but they were on us.”
As a ninth-grader, Hudson logged her second varsity hat trick against Aquinas. With each of those three goals she received the ball at or near midfield, turned and took on the backline while possessing the ball some 40 to 50 yards before scoring.
Friday’s goal showed her ability to dangle the ball from the end of her foot while maneuvering through tight spaces.
It was featured as the No. 1 highlight among SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays of the Day on ESPN.
Canandaigua (7-3-1) had won three straight games heading into Friday’s action.
“It’s great for Athena that they get her back,” Peck said. “It’s great for Section V in general that she’s back from injury. She’s definitely fun to watch.”
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