Wayne Country Day withstands Eagles' best shot

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on August 30, 2005 2:10 PM

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Withstand the early shots from the opponent. Keep your legs and last the distance.

In the 90-degree heat and intense humidity, Wayne Country Day's approach in its home soccer match against Rosewood sounded more like a heavyweight fighter than a soccer team, but it paid off in the Chargers' 3-2 win.

The Eagles, playing in their first match, jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 24 minutes of play with goals by junior Elliott Lee and sophomore Selving Sabillon. Nine minutes in, Lee scored on an assist from Sabillon, while Sabillon's goal came when he recovered a loose ball near the Charger goal and knocked it home.

From there, Wayne Country Day (3-0), with two games under its belt, seemed to have more endurance and "game legs" in a physical contest.

"We were trying to play with four midfielders, and it paid off in the sense that we wore them out," first-year Wayne Country Day coach Paul Estrada said. "We went to the 4-4-2 in the second half, relied on our forwards speed and put some balls in the net.

"The first half, they (Rosewood) came out and tried to get us. The second half, they lost their wheels."

Will Futrelle, one of only two seniors on the Chargers' roster, notched the first of his two goals with 12 minutes left in the first half. Futrelle won a loose ball just past midfield, then outsprinted a Rosewood defender the rest of the way, before firing a right-footed blast past Eagle goalie Trey Kriger -- getting his first-ever start in goal.

In a game where a combined six cards were issued by the officials, Charger defender Kevin Herring and Eagle midfielder Goss Kendall were issued a yellow/red card and were both ejected for a brief encounter inside the Rosewood 18-yard box.

Neither will have to sit out a game, but the loss proved more costly for Rosewood (0-1) on Monday as Kendall is one of its leading, returning offensive performers.

"It had a big impact, because we had to shift some players around and got some people out of their comfort zone," Rosewood coach Daniel Mitchell said. "Plus, he's one of our best physically conditioned players on the team. But, their guys played hard and kept coming at us."

In a six-minute stretch to start the second half, junior Sam Steed and Futrelle finished one goal each to give Wayne Country Day a 3-2 lead for good. Both goals came from close range as the Chargers, who fired 10 shots in the second half, consistently penetrated the Eagle defense.

Futrelle and Steed now have six goals each in three games this season.

"Sam is an outstanding midfielder, and if Will gets the ball in front of the goal he's going to put it in," Estrada said.

Rosewood senior Kyle Bunn had a couple of solid runs down the right wing in the second half. The Eagles had their best chance to equalize when Bunn's long cross from the right wing was headed over the goal by Cameron Lowe with 15 minutes left.

The Chargers had a flurry of chances to score late, but never increased their lead. Kriger finished with seven saves in the second half and 10 on the game. Meanwhile, Wayne Country Day goalie Ryan Ford had four stops.

"We wore out in the second half. We aren't conditioned where we need to be. Part of that is my fault and it's something we are going to address," Mitchell said. "It is our first match, so even if you are conditioning in practice, you aren't going to be in game shape.

"I was pleased with how we started the game, but later on with the conditioning, we were just looking to kick the ball away."

Both teams return to non-conference action on Wednesday. Rosewood hosts Greene Central at 5 p.m., while the Chargers travel to Pikeville to face Charles B. Aycock at 7 p.m.