EW drops first ECC soccer match

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on April 17, 2005 2:15 AM

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In a battle of previously unbeaten teams in the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference, West Carteret jumped out to a 3-0 lead at halftime on its way to a 4-1 win over Eastern Wayne on a seasonably cold and windy night at the Little Big Horn.

The Patriots (11-0-1), who's only tie came earlier this season against Croatan, improved to 6-0 in the ECC. The Warriors (6-4 overall) dropped to 5-1 in league play after the first contest of 2005 between the league rivals.

Trailing by three, Eastern Wayne's leading-scorer sophomore Samantha Frazer found daylight near the top of the 18-yard box and scored her ninth goal of the season with 28 minutes left in the second half.

The Warriors got no closer than 3-1 as Frazer's goal proved to be the home team's lone shot at Patriot goalie Joselle Arroyo after intermission.

Still, Eastern Wayne coach Jorg Wagner saw some positives to take away from the game as his team continues the second half of ECC play.

"If you break it down into two halves, it was an improvement for us," Wagner said. "I think we were able to force them to play a little bit more uncontrolled ball in the second half. It's fair to say the second half was an improvement for us.

"This one game is not the end of the world."

Elise Cader -- the fourth West Carteret player to score -- pushed the game to its final margin at the 17:20 mark. In the middle of the box, Cader juked one defender and created plenty of space to shoot off the inside of the left crossbar and into the net.

West Carteret owned a 7-1 edge in shots in the second half as Warrior goalies Carol Reinier and Morgan Pritchett combined for four saves. The action in goal was Pritchett's first since suffering a knee injury earlier in the season.

In the first half and most of the game, the Warriors had trouble establishing offensive rhythm as West Carteret's defense didn't allow Eastern Wayne's forwards much room to move with the ball.

"They play an extra man in the back, and if you have a strong midfield you can afford to do that. We need to play with numbers and they don't. That gives them a little bit of an edge.

Meanwhile, Reinier stayed busy in the Warrior goal with the Patriots consistently attacking down the right wing with freshman forward Katherine Darden. Darden posted the first goal after beating Eastern Wayne's defense down the right side, then scoring back post to make it 1-0 eight minutes into the game.

The Warriors kept the visitors off of the scoreboard for the next 16 minutes, before Melyssa May recovered a loose ball and scored to boost her team to a two-goal lead. Maggie Foreman added the final goal of the half for the Patriots with just under eight minutes left on a follow shot.

West Carteret leading scorer, freshman Lauren Miller was held scoreless.

Eastern Wayne travels to Kinston on Monday.