Rosewood earns rare win over North Lenoir

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on March 26, 2009 1:46 PM

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Gabby Cornman turned, pumped her fist and yelled as an enormous sense of frustration lifted from Branch Pope Field.

Cornman collected a loose ball off a defender and buried the game-winning goal in the back of the net in the 77th minute as Rosewood escaped with a 2-1, non-conference win over visiting North Lenoir on Wednesday night.

"One thing I can say about my girls is they won't give up," said Eagles head coach Eddie Maldonado. "As long as I've been the head coach they've refused to give up, and they'll keep fighting and digging. North Lenoir, since I've been here, we might have beaten them twice.

"We know they're going to be good and we kind of compare ourselves to them. When we do get a win against them it does mean a lot because it doesn't come very often."

Rosewood had struggled to finish possessions and create shots on goal throughout the second half until Cornman delivered the clincher.

"The whole beginning of this season I've been shifting people around and four players were missing tonight," said Maldonado. "We've been just trying to find that key to get that last pass, that last touch or that last shot to kind of put stuff away. We can create opportunities but we have trouble putting them away sometimes."

The Hawks trailed 1-0 at the half until Jordan Hudson beat Eagles keeper Taylor Johnson in the 41st minute to tie the game at 1-1. North Lenoir outshot Rosewood 5-3 in the second half and had multiple scoring opportunities in the final 40 minutes.

Sasha Holeman's free kick from just outside the 18-yard box in the 56th minute failed to result in a goal. Her shot following an indirect kick from inside the 18-yard box in the 61st minute sailed just wide.

The Hawks' final scoring chance came on a corner kick in the 75th minute, but they couldn't capitalize.

"To be as short as we were in personnel tonight, with four starters missing, I was extremely happy with the way we played," said North Lenoir head coach Anthony Kennedy. "We made a couple of adjustments in the field after halftime. We moved a couple of people up and moved a couple of people back. We got some good play out of some subs.

"They just outhustled us toward the end and we ran out of gas there."

Kelsey Wolfe got Rosewood (5-1-0 overall) on the board in the 11th minute as she gathered a loose ball in the 18-yard box and slipped into the net. Johnson finished with five saves.

The Eagles face Holly Ridge Dixon at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday at The Brittany in Wilson. The Hawks (2-2-3) travel to Princeton on Monday.