C.B. Aycock wins in ECC tournament, E. Wayne, S. Wayne lose
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 24, 2010 1:51 AM
PIKEVILLE -- Parity played a prominent role during regular-season play in the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference boys''soccer ranks.
It's carried over into the postseason.
Sixth-seeded North Lenoir and fifth-seeded Triton upset the apple cart during quarterfinal-round action in the 2010 ECC tournament, which started Saturday afternoon. Five-time defending champion Charles B. Aycock bucked the trend later Saturday evening.
Kyle Powell notched the eventual game-winning goal in the 39th minute, lifting the second-seeded Golden Falcons past Cleveland, 2-1, at Hardy Talton Stadium. Aycock (14-6-2 overall) captured its 11th consecutive ECC tournament win and entertains North Lenoir (12-9-2) at 7 p.m. Monday.
The teams split their regular-season series.
"I think, overall, the conference has been a little more balanced this year than it has in the past," said Golden Falcons head coach Kevin Adkins. "I don't think there is no really strong team in our conference that stands out. Even though South Johnston has a good ballclub, if you play well, you can beat them."
The Golden Falcons opened the scoring in the eighth minute.
Travis Musselman crossed the ball into the penalty box and Tyler Lynch connected on a beautiful header that Cleveland keeper Morgan Berger couldn't touch. It was Musselman's third assist of the season and Lynch's ninth goal overall.
Cleveland (4-16-0) employed a good work rate throughout the first half, and fired six shots on goal. The teams traded shots on goal, which gave Berger and Aycock keeper Brandon Davis a good workout.
Powell's goal came off Musselman's assist to put the Golden Falcons up 2-0. Eighteen seconds later, Morgan Burton pulled the Rams within 2-1 on an unassisted goal on the restart from a foul.
"The first goal made me feel good and I thought maybe we're going to have a good night tonight," said Adkins. "Then we got the second goal. Then we gave away a score with one referee saying play on and the other referee giving a direct kick, and we didn't get prepared for it.
"(Burton) stepped up right off the bat and scored. That's soccer."
Aycock, which is 4-4 in one-goal games this season, dominated the final 15 minutes of the second half. Davis (seven saves) played superb between the pipes, while defenders Daniel Ohnmeiss, Cade Ivey and Aaron Johnson constantly redirected balls back upfield to help generate attacks on goal.
North Lenoir 2, Eastern Wayne 1 (2 OT)
Sophomore D'arico Sutton delivered the game-winning goal in the 98th minute as the Hawks stunned the Warriors at Little Big Horn.
Third-seeded Eastern Wayne (7-9-0) grabbed a 1-0 lead 66 seconds into the second overtime on Joe Herlihy's unassisted goal inside the 18-yard box. Sutton recorded the equalizer a minute later and then converted a one-on-one opportunity to give the Hawks their second one-goal victory over the Warriors this season.
"A stupid mistake in the back, get out-run by one of those long balls," said Warriors head coach Jorg Wagner of the game-tying goal. "The second ball, we try to push up and they score. That's unfortunate ... but certainly deserving for North Lenoir.
"It's a very one-dimensional attack, but if we can't handle it, we're not going to come out on top."
Eastern Wayne played without Ryan Allison and missed his ability to score. The Warriors attempted 20 shots on goal, but constantly misfired inside the 18 and penalty area on numerous occasions throughout each half.
"Not having Ryan makes a huge difference in terms of finisher, is a pretty clinical finisher," said Wagner. "We just couldn't really find the net. It was a good game for us in the first half, but then it sort of frayed up a little bit (in the second half). The cohesion was not there any more, we didn't try to keep the ball on the ground."
North Lenoir keeper Caleb Baird registered 11 saves, while Eastern Wayne keeper Jordan Furgeson recorded six stops.
Triton 6, Southern Wayne 3
DUDLEY -- Jesus Rodriguez punched in two goals as the fourth-seeded Saints fell to the Hawks on the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex pitch.
Jose Meza added a single goal for Southern Wayne, which fell to 8-8-0 this season.
Triton travels to top-seeded South Johnston on Monday.