Dean's speed too much for Golden Falcons' 'D'
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on March 31, 2010 1:46 PM
PIKEVILLE -- Warning your players about Brandi Dean's speed is one thing.
Simulating that speed in practice and slowing down Dean on the field are completely different.
Dean scored all three goals in Eastern Wayne's 3-1 win at Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference opponent Charles B. Aycock on Tuesday night. Dean has 12 goals this season and has scored three times in each of her last three games.
"Tonight it was Aycock 1 and Brandi 3," said Warriors head coach Jorg Wagner. "She's now scored 12 goals this season and that was her fourth hat trick. She's a definite threat. She's faster than any defender that we've faced so far and that was the difference in this game. Speed kills and Brandi's speed especially."
Dean got Eastern Wayne on the board in the seventh minute with a breakaway goal down the near sideline and her shot into the bottom right corner beat Golden Falcons' keeper Courtney Sheeks.
The remainder of the first half was scoreless as Eastern Wayne held a 3-0 advantage in shots on goal in the opening 40 minutes.
Anita Arellano gathered up a loose ball inside the 18-yard box and beat Warriors' keeper Danielle Daniel in the 47th minute to tie the game at 1-1. Aycock didn't tally another shot on the goal the remainder of the night.
"Any time you get behind in a big game like this it's really hard to come back," said Golden Falcons assistant coach Adam Livengood. "Their speed starts to draw you into that style of play where you just want to start clearing it out of the back and trying to get balls up over the top. We would prefer to try to win a ball in the midfield and then put a ball through."
Dean scored again in the 49th minute as she raced through the defense and slipped a shot past Sheeks. She put the game away with her third goal in the 71st minute.
"Her speed is hard to prepare for," said Livengood. "To simulate that in practice when you might have one player with similar speed or you hope you have one with similar speed and so it makes it very hard to practice for. We've played against her for years, so we did know what we were up against but there's only so much that you can do."
Eastern Wayne (4-4-0 overall, 3-0-0 ECC) entertains Rosewood today, while Aycock (6-4-1, 2-1) plays host to Triton.