Prep soccer -- Warriors battle past Aycock

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on October 5, 2004 1:56 PM

• Print
• Email

Countless near misses, game-saving plays, overtime.

Charles B. Aycock's visit to Eastern Wayne had most of the expected ingredients of a county rival soccer game.

After misfiring on at least 25 shots, the Warriors got one goal each from Joe Gossett and Andrew Corley to erase a 1-0 halftime deficit to claim a 2-1 win in overtime at home against the Falcons.

Gossett and Corley now have nine goals each on the season.

The win improves Eastern Wayne to 8-3 overall and 5-1 in the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference heading into the second half of the conference season. Aycock (10-4 overall) fell to 4-2 in ECC play.

The Golden Falcons, who were outshot 35-4 on the match, capitalized on their first chance 20 minutes in. Aycock's Jorge Delgado charged down the middle of the field on a breakaway, before Warrior goalie Steven Stackhouse came off of the line to interrupt the attempt. Stackhouse fell, and the ball rolled out to the right wing as Carson Sasser alertly recovered the loose ball and fired into an open net to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead.

"Our game plan was to steal a goal on the road and win," Aycock coach Byron Adkins said. "That was our bottom line, and it almost worked for us.

"They can have 79 minutes of possession if they want. It's not about playing really well, it's about winning games."

From there, most of the first half and rest of the contest saw Eastern Wayne on the attack.

Most of the Warrior possession started on the left side of the field with defender Rob Cagle passing ahead to midfielders David Hook and Jin Lee and Gossett, a forward.

The Warriors' fired 13 of their 35 shots in the first half as Aycock goalie Jake Bunn had five saves before intermission. Bunn finished with 13 saves and knocked a handful of tough Eastern Wayne shots over and wide of the goal.

The Warriors' had a golden chance to equalize with six minutes left in the half when a cross by Gossett from the left found the feet of Corley, but Corley's shot from close range sailed over the goal.

The second half proved to be more of the same.

Eastern Wayne won most of Aycock's punts and defensive clears from midfield, then started its offensive attack. The Falcon defense and Bunn stayed busy and managed to keep the Warriors off of the scoreboard.

Gossett eventually capitalized on a scoring chance with 16 minutes left. The senior forward took a pass from Corley, settled, then fired a left-footed shot past Bunn towards the back post to tie the game.

In overtime, Eastern Wayne scored three minutes into the first half on its first chance when Corley knocked in a goal from close range on a hard cross from the right wing by Bobby Gambella.

"It's very difficult to play against a team that doesn't come to win," Eastern Wayne coach Jorg Wagner said. "If you look at their setup, they were here to steal a tie or get a counter attack. It looked like for a long time something like that might work.

"They were banking on us touching the ball around and not putting any pressure on the goal. I thought the score being as low as it is was unfortunate for us."

Aycock threatened seriously to equalize with two minutes left in the second overtime. Delgado received a long pass, got through the heart of the Warrior defense and knocked a shot on goal. Quickly, Eastern Wayne defender Josh Turner recovered to make a sliding save, booting the ball off of the goal line to preserve the lead.

"Our backs get us in trouble and they get us out of trouble. He was in the wrong place when the pass was played, but he came in and cleared it off the line," Wagner said. "Other than us breaking down, I didn't see anything on their attack that had me overly concerned."

Shortly after the play, the Falcons' Garrett Davis' header into the goal was waived off after he was whistled offsides.

Eastern Wayne hosts South Central on Wednesday, while Aycock travels to Kinston.

"I thought we at least deserved a draw tonight," Adkins said. "We look forward to them coming back to our place."

C.B. Aycock 1 0 0 0 -- 1

Eastern Wayne 0 1 1 0 -- 2

First half

CBA -- Sasser (unassisted), 19:45

Second half

EW -- Gossett (An. Corley), 64:04

First half overtime

EW -- An. Corley (Gambella), 93:20

CBA EW

3 Shots 35

1 Corner kicks 5

3 Offsides 0

6 Fouls 6

Saves -- C.B. Aycock -- Bunn 13. Eastern Wayne -- Stackhouse 2.