Rosewood ends scoreless streak

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on April 21, 2009 1:50 PM

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Four games of scoreless frustration is over.

Rosewood ended its recent futility with a 4-0 victory over county rival Spring Creek at Branch Pope Field on Monday evening. It was the Carolina 1-A Conference opener for both teams.

The Eagles' offensive woes surfaced early.

Gabby Cornman's shot in the 10th minute ricocheted off Gators keeper Stacie Harris and rolled out of bounds. Rosewood misfired on corner kicks in the 12th and 13th minutes, and Cornman's shot in the 18th minute clanged off the crossbar.

Moments later, Cornman gathered a loose ball in the box and buried it in the top left corner for a 1-0 lead. The goal ended a drought of nearly 360 scoreless minutes.

Spring Creek (2-5-0 overall, 0-1-0 CC) failed to clear a loose ball in front of its own goal in the 35th minute. Francesca Verceles-Zara slipped a shot past Harris for a 2-0 lead.

"We had four games without a goal and we finally got a few tonight but we still struggled," said Eagles head coach Eddie Maldonado. "But, we got four and that's four more than we've gotten in the last four games. I think that's a big confidence booster because we know that going to North Johnston and going to Princeton we've got to be able to score goals."

Rosewood (6-5-0, 1-0-0) generated scoring opportunities in the second half. Harris got her fingertips on Cornman's shot in the 51st minute and deflected it out of bounds.

Cornman's dribbled through the Spring Creek defense in the 65th minute, but couldn't finish as she blasted another shot off Harris that bounced over the end line.

Kelsey Wolfe collected a loose ball in front of the Gators' goal in the 71st minute and put it in the back of the net for a 3-0 lead.

"Most of my defense is new this year," said Spring Creek head coach Linda Salter said. "I think they were a little timid and backing up a bit in the first half. I'm just trying to get it in to them that they need to be more aggressive."

Verceles-Zara capped the Eagles' scoring in the 75th minute. Rosewood finished with a 16-0 shots on goal advantage and an 8-0 edge in corner kicks.

"We didn't practice at all during spring break," Maldonado said. "There were a lot of aspects of the game where we just kind of looked sluggish. We've been hungry.

"Tonight getting four goals and knowing they could have gotten more, I think that's going to keep feeding to that hunger and they're going to want to keep getting after it."