Baddour's OT goal lifts Warriors

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on April 12, 2005 1:57 PM

• Print
• Email

Eastern Wayne and Charles B. Aycock seemed destined to finish in a 1-1 tie in the first Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference meeting between the two county rivals.

An improbable shot by Warriors junior Helen Baddour with 1 minute left in the second half of overtime changed all of that.

With the clock moving toward the final whistle, Baddour settled a ball near the left sideline -- well outside the 18-yard box. She turned, then lofted a left-footed shot on goal that sailed over the head of Falcon goalie Emily Stewart and into the side net to boost Eastern Wayne to a 2-1 win at New Hope.

Following the goal, Baddour turned to the near, home sideline -- mouth agape and palms up in astonishment after her first goal of the regular season.

"It was out of the blue. I didn't think it was going to be a goal ... I thought it would be an assist," Baddour said. "In rivalry games like this, crazy things happen."

Eastern Wayne (5-3 overall) remained unbeaten in the ECC with a 4-0 mark heading into Wednesday's home match with South Central. Aycock (5-6-2 overall) dipped to 1-2 in league play with a road game at Kinston slated for Wednesday.

The Warriors' first goal by leading-scorer Samantha Frazer came from nearly the same location. With her team trailing 1-0, Frazer attacked the left wing, then cut back to settle the ball to her right foot. With most of the defense pushed back, the sophomore had plenty of time to fire a right-footed blast over Stewart to equalize the match with 5:30 left in regulation.

"Neither one of our goals came out of the flow of play," Eastern Wayne coach Jorg Wagner said.

Like most of the match, both defenses proved tough in the waning minutes of regulation and overtime. The Warriors managed just two shots on goal during the combined 20 minutes of overtime, while the Falcons had no shots and two corner kicks. Aycock's best chance to score after regulation came early in the first half of overtime as Lizzie Sodoma's corner from the right sailed across the goal face, practically untouched, before being cleared by the Eastern Wayne defense.

The Falcons got on the board first -- midway through the first half. Aycock's Abby Caplinger booted a long pass from the right wing and near midfield through the Warrior defense, which found Amanda Schlaeppi. Schlaeppi took several uncontested dribbles, then knocked her team's lone goal past Eastern Wayne goalie Carol Reinier.

The rest of regulation saw both teams miss a handful of opportunities around the goal. The shot total was even through the game with the Warriors taking 11 shots, while the Falcons managed 10. Both sweepers, Lizzie Sodoma (CBA) and Jennifer Bircher (EW) anchored consistent defensive efforts by their respective teams.

Each coach was quick to praise the effort of their defenses.

"I'm proud of our girls tonight. We are still playing around with our lineups a little bit, and I think they responded great," Aycock coach John Fidler said. "We decided we wanted to keep Samantha Frazer contained and the young girls did a good job with that. The girls are starting to believe in defense first."

Early in the second half, Aycock looked poised to push its lead to 2-0 when Caplinger nearly missed wide of the goal after a long throw from the sideline by Erin Medford. Minutes later, Schlaeppi just missed out on her second goal of the game as she broke away from the defense, but her shot went left of the crossbar.

The Warriors had several close misses in the middle stages of the half, but always seemed one touch away from equalizing. Near the 20 minute mark, Frazer's shot from close range on a pass from Kasie Edwards was saved by Stewart, who finished with six saves.

Reinier also had six saves for the Warriors, who have given up just three goals in their last five games.

"Bircher does a great job back there organizing. Overall we did well defensively," Wagner said. "Playing with three forwards exposed us in the back early, so that first goal is on me."

Notes: The Warriors were whistled for 16 fouls to the Falcons' nine. Aycock had three corner kicks to Eastern Wayne's one. Coming into the game, Eastern Wayne defeated Aycock in an exhibition and a non-conference game, both by scores of 3-0. The two play twice more with a non-conference match on April 27, before closing out their ECC schedules on May 4 -- both contests in Pikeville. The non-conference matches were penciled in to make up for losing two games to Southern Wayne, which isn't fielding girls soccer this season.