West Brunswick eliminates Eastern Wayne

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 4, 2007 2:33 AM

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West Brunswick collected two first-half goals within a 21/2 minute stretch and cruised past Eastern Wayne 5-2 on Saturday evening at Little Big Horn.

The loss eliminated the host Warriors (10-12 overall) from the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A men's soccer playoffs. West Brunswick, a wild-card entry, carries a 13-11-1 worksheet into third-round play on Tuesday.

"West Brunswick has a good team and some individually good players that made life a little difficult for us," said Eastern Wayne head coach Jorg Wagner. "I thought defensively we didn't stand very securely in the back. Two goals, I thought at least, were a little bit of a giveaway."

An offsides call negated the Trojans' initial goal just three minutes into the opening half. Thirteen minutes later, the visitors took a 1-0 lead when Johnny Mendoza received a through ball and chipped the ball over keeper Vincent Hagedorn into an empty net.

Eastern Wayne knotted the equalizer nearly four minutes later.

Werner Wooten took a pass from Jace Muehlenthaler and fired a low shot into the 6-yard box. The ball skipped between the gloves of West Brunswick keeper Logan Tripp and rolled between his knees into the net.

The Trojans, members of the Mideastern 3-A/4-A Conference, tallied the next four goals within a 24-minute stretch. Jayme Day started the offensive surge in the 22nd minute to give West Brunswick the lead for good at 2-1.

Brandon Locklear supplied back-to-back goals in the 35th and 37th minutes as the Trojans led 4-1 at halftime. Mendoza concluded the scoring with a goal just six minutes into the second half.

Wooten converted a penalty kick for the Warriors in the 53rd minute.

"We really couldn't make it interesting, but got an honor goal there in the second half," said Wagner. "I thought we played a little better in the second half with more defensive intensity."

West Brunswick owned a slight 18-17 edge in shots on goal. Hagedorn had seven saves for the Warriors, while Logan stopped 11 shots.