Eastern Wayne cruises past N. Lenoir
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on May 4, 2011 1:47 PM
Leave some in the tank.
Eastern Wayne got some breathing room with a pair of second-half goals and got its starters some important rest in a 5-0 win over visiting North Lenoir on Tuesday night in the first round of the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference tournament.
The second-seeded Warriors (10-5-0 overall) entertain Cleveland in tonight's semifinals. Weather permitting, kickoff is 7 p.m. at Little Big Horn.
Jenna Martin gave Eastern Wayne the lead in the 17th minute when she intercepted Hawks' keeper Emily Varnell's goal kick and put in it in the back of the net.
Miller Delbridge extended the lead to 2-0 in the 17th minute. Ann Reed Hulse's shot in the 26th minute slipped through Varnell's legs as the Warriors led 3-0 at the half. Eastern Wayne held a 7-0 advantage in shots on goal in the first 40 minutes.
"I thought that was when the game swung our way," said Warriors' head coach Jorg Wagner. "It took us a while to get started. Once we got started and got those goals I felt good about it. The second part of the first half was well played."
Delbridge scored on penalty kicks in the 56th and 57th minutes. Wagner called upon his bench and received valuable minutes throughout the second half while getting priceless rest for his starters in hopes of preserving their legs for possibly two more games this week.
"We were able to rotate some of those reserves in and get our starters some rest," said Wagner. "It's an 'English week' as we call it with hopefully three games. We wanted to carry over the strong showing of the last 20 minutes of the first half and we were able to do that. Our reserves got a good run and were able to show themselves quite well I thought."
North Lenoir (1-13-2) finished with one shot on goal.
Freshman Erika Duke recorded the shutout in goal for Eastern Wayne.