Golden Falcons continue impressive county rub
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 10, 2010 1:46 PM
The impressive run continued ... even with two injured starters on the bench.
Kyle Powell supplied two second-half goals within a seven-minute stretch, and Charles B. Aycock cruised past Rosewood 4-0 at Branch Pope Field on Thursday evening. The Golden Falcons improved to an astounding 29-0-1 against Wayne County opposition since 2006.
"I thought they were more aggressive and beat us to the ball most of the night," said Eagles head coach Daniel Mitchell. "If you do that, you're going to be back on your heels like we were."
Aycock, which played for the third straight day, appeared sluggish throughout the opening half and missed striker Chase Thompson (ankle) and midfielder Ronnie Person (calf), who each watched from the sideline.
Despite the two absences, the Golden Falcons (7-2-0 overall) needed just 10 minutes to break the scoreless tie. Senior midfielder Jacob Palma crossed the ball into the box toward Juan Pina, who had an open look on goal from the right side. Pina ripped a low liner toward the back post and put Aycock ahead 1-0.
It was Pina's ninth goal of the season.
Rosewood (0-3-0) just missed getting the equalizer eight minutes later.
Bret Robinson directed a corner kick from the right side into the box and Matt Shaw's header sailed just above the crossbar and below the football goalposts. The Eagles had five shots on goal.
Guillermo Proa stretched the Golden Falcons' lead to 2-0 with a goal just 17 seconds before halftime.
"I thought we were a little sluggish the first half," said Aycock head coach Kevin Adkins. "We pulled it together and started passing the ball a little better towards the end. We got two goals ... weren't pretty, but any time it goes into the net, you're happy."
Aycock pressured the Rosewood defense throughout the second half and finally broke through again in the 51st minute. Pina crossed a ball into the box and Eagles keeper Jacquez Raynor (six saves) tried to get a glove on the ball.
The ball sailed past Raynor's out-stretched hands and Powell tucked it into the net. Seven minutes later, Powell added his second goal on a similar play off Trey Millard's assist.
"We get a couple of those balls cleared out on corner kicks, we keep it a real tight ballgame," said Mitchell. "We were just weren't aggressive enough on some of those balls. I thought Aycock won a majority of the 50-50 balls all night."
The Golden Falcons' back four -- Daniel Ohnmeiss, Aaron Johnson, Cade Ivy and Travis Musselman -- prevented Eagle strikers Jonathan Franks and Antonio Henriques from getting open looks on goal. Musselman played with a heavily-taped right ankle.
Aycock keepers Brandon Davis (one save) and Nick Hilker (three saves) combined for their sixth shutout of the season.
"Our defense has really played well for us this year," said Adkins.