Warrior soccer team finally runs leags off of South Johnston

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on November 4, 2004 1:55 PM

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During most of the regular season, Eastern Wayne's boys soccer team's overall speed proved to be too much for most of their opponents.

For nearly 50 minutes Wednesday, South Johnston matched the Warriors' quickness in the first round of the Class 3-A N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs, until Eastern Wayne found another gear.

Facing a 1-1 tie, Warrior junior Andrew Corley posted two goals in a four-minute stretch early in the second half as Eastern Wayne defended Little Big Horn with a 4-1 win over the Trojans.

The Warriors improved to 14-4 overall and now move on to face Hertford County (3-15) on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Ahoskie.

"You've got to give South Johnston credit. In the second half we scored, but that was due to individual hustle more so than our style of play," Eastern Wayne coach Jorg Wagner said. "They didn't allow us to get into our possession game. 4-1 isn't a score indicative of how the game was played."

Corley, who also equalized the game 28 minutes into the first half, finished with a natural hat trick (three-straight goals). His first two goals came on assists from midfielder Nickoli Rosinski, who dished out a pair of precise passes from the outside.

Corley's final goal came on a follow-shot after Jin Lee's blast kicked off of Trojan goalie Kyle Murphy's gloves -- making the score 3-1 with 25 minutes left. Corley, a junior varsity player last season, leads the Warriors with 19 goals.

"It's not all me. It's everybody playing," Corley said. "The speed for us comes down to conditioning. In the beginning of the season, we did conditioning Monday through Saturday."

The Trojans (10-9-2) had a golden chance to pull to within one at the 66-minute mark, but Warrior goalie Steven Stackhouse's sliding save denied a one-on-one opportunity. Stackhouse finished with five saves as the Warrior defense -- holding opponents to under 1.2 goals per game -- continued to produce solid results.

South Johnston, who opened the second half on the offensive, never fully recovered.

Bobby Gambella scored Eastern Wayne's final goal. Similar to Corley's third goal, Gambella rushed to boot in a follow-up after Lee's shot taken from the right wing was saved.

"I thought we started the second half stronger and we had our opportunities to finish," South Johnston coach Chris Rowland said. "We lost our cool and we lost our shape and we never recovered. We had our chances to win this game, and that's what hurts."

The Trojans, the Big Eight South Conference's fourth seed, struck first on a goal by Pedro Montero 27 minutes in. Montero received a pass from the left wing, pushed the ball to his left foot, then turned to blast a low, left-footed kick into the right corner.

The Warriors answered quickly just one minute later when Corley scored on a one-touch-shot off of a pass from the right wing by Rosinski, who now has a team-leading eight assists on the season.

Eastern Wayne, playing without injured forward Joe Gossett, outshot the Trojans 16-9 and pulled away with a late scoring barrage, but Wagner believes it will take a more complete effort for his team to advance deep in the playoffs.

"Number 10 (Montero) is an incredible player," Wagner said. "If we don't double-cover him, he does a lot more damage to us. We've got some players playing out of position right now, and we are really only two or three games in with our current lineup."

2004 N.C. High School

Athletic Association Class 3-A

Boys Soccer Playoffs

(at Eastern Wayne HS)

South Johnston 1 0 -- 1

Eastern Wayne 1 3 -- 4

First half

SJ -- Montero, 27:11

EW -- Corley (Rosinski assist), 28:30

Second half

EW -- Corley (Rosinski assist), 51:00

EW -- Corley (Lee assist), 55:19

EW -- Gambella (Lee assist), 68:00

SJ EW

Shots 9 16

Corner kicks 5 3

Offsides 0 1

Fouls 6 7

Saves -- South Johnston -- Murphy 6. Eastern Wayne -- Stackhouse 5.