Archrivals settle for 0-0 draw

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on April 29, 2009 1:46 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Eastern Wayne and county rival Charles B. Aycock played 100 minutes of soccer Tuesday evening.

And the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference rivals finished where they started -- deadlocked in a 0-0 draw on the Hardy Talton Stadium pitch.

"This is not the outcome that we were looking for when we took the field tonight," said Warriors head coach Jorg Wagner. "But C.B. Aycock is a good team, so to come away with a win and a tie on the season is pretty good."

The tie helped the Warriors (5-5-4 overall, 5-3-1 ECC) as the final week of league play winds down. If Eastern Wayne defeats Kinston on Friday and Beddingfield loses one of its final two games, the Warriors secure the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament.

The Golden Falcons (8-6-2, 4-4-1) dropped to the No. 4 seed and will likely face two-time ECC champion Hunt at some point in the tournament. Aycock concludes regular-season play at home Thursday against Southern Wayne.

"We wanted to get a win tonight to improve our seeding and hopefully avoid playing Hunt in the second round," said Aycock assistant coach Adam Livengood. "On the bright side, we have to beat them eventually anyway if we want to win the tournament. It looks like we will just have to do it earlier than we thought."

Eastern Wayne controlled the game in the opening half.

The Warriors unleashed 10 shots during the first 40 minutes compared to just one for the Golden Falcons, but came away with nothing to show for their efforts. Aycock keeper Courtney Sheeks kept Eastern Wayne off the scoreboard.

"Courtney has really done a great job over the last two games," said Livengood. "Our defense did a nice job of keeping the shooters out of the middle of the field, and Courtney made the saves when the ball did reach the net."

The Warriors' two best scoring chances of the evening came in the second half.

In the 23rd minute Brandi Dean collected a pass, raced down the right side of the field and centered the ball across the face of the Golden Falcons net. Fortunately for the Aycock defense there were no other Eastern Wayne forwards in sight and the ball slid harmlessly out of play.

Dean created another opportunity in the 30th minute when she collected a long pass and raced into the 18-yard box. The speedster fired a shot inches over the crossbar.

"We had plenty of chances, but sometimes they just don't find the net," said Wagner. "We took 18 shots. Eventually you would think one would hit the mark, but tonight it didn't happen."

The Golden Falcons best opportunity came in the second overtime session when Taylor Demartini collected a loose ball off a deflected corner kick and fired a shot on goal. Eastern Wayne keeper Deborah Doran made the save to preserve the scoreless tie.

"Our girls just seemed a little tentative tonight, almost like they were passing up shots to try to get closer," said Livengood. "We have to keep working on getting shots and making things happen offensively."