Eastern Wayne finds breathing room

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on October 20, 2009 1:47 PM

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DUDLEY -- Eastern Wayne's night of offensive frustration ended in a matter of two minutes.

With a wide margin in the shots-on-goal column and just a 2-1 lead, the Warriors scored two late goals in a 4-1 win on Monday night at Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference rival Southern Wayne.

Kyle Sasser caught Saints keeper Alan Nunez off his line and lofted a chip shot into the back of the net to extend Eastern Wayne's lead to 3-1 in the 75th minute. Two minutes later, Victor Gomez caught Nunez out of the goal and chipped a shot over Nunez's head to increase the margin to 4-1.

The Warriors finished with a 25-3 shots on goal advantage.

"It was a terrible finishing night for us until late," said Eastern Wayne head coach Jorg Wagner. "You never call a goal really a junk goal, but they were not exactly the type of goals that you as a coach dream of. The game was a lot closer than the score obviously indicates."

Jesus Rodriguez scored on a header in the 44th minute to pull Southern Wayne (5-11 overall, 1-6 ECC) to within 2-1. The Saints recorded just two more shots on goal the rest of the game.

"We had a chance to score," said Southern Wayne head coach Mario Aguilar. "I changed some positions at midfield at halftime. We scored the first goal, but then the guys just didn't listen."

Nick Baker got Eastern Wayne on the board in the fifth minute after taking a cross from Sang Kim and firing a shot on Nunez. The ball rolled past Nunez and into the back of the net. Nunez finished with 14 saves.

Nunez turned away shots inside the 18-yard box from Leslie Cox and Gomez. Baker collected a rebound off Gomez's shot in the 35th minute and pushed the Warriors' lead to 2-0.

"I was pleased with the first 10 minutes or so because we looked really nice," said Wagner. "Then there were phases of five minutes here or five minutes there where we found our composure and knocked the ball around and showed up in front. We are absolutely struggling in the front. It's a matter of composure.

"The decision of where to put the ball and how to strike it has to be made before the cross ever comes in. If the decision is not made early enough then you look lost in the front."

With the season-ending ECC tournament starting Saturday, building momentum during the remainder of the week is important for both Eastern Wayne (7-9-1, 4-5) and Southern Wayne.

"We have North Lenoir tomorrow (Tuesday) and then C.B. Aycock on (Wednesday)," said Aguilar. "I would like to move into fourth place or third place. Hopefully we can get a good two days of practice in on Thursday and Friday."