Rosewood soccer
By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on May 12, 2011 1:47 PM
Camden did not look like a wild-card team.
Rosewood played up to its opponent's skill level for 50 minutes, but could not hang on Wednesday evening.
The Bruins scored two second-half goals and blanked the Eagles 2-0 in the opening round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A girls' soccer playoffs at Branch Pope Field.
"I thought we might have played our best soccer of the year today," Rosewood head coach Ryan Wells said. "We played at a very high level with an excellent team and I think that shows our girls the brand of soccer that we are capable of playing."
Rosewood got the game's first offensive chance in the seventh minute when Logan Bill corralled a loose ball and fired a shot from just inside the 18-yard box that sailed off the side of the net.
The Bruins (13-1-2 overall) controlled the possession for the rest of the half, but failed to put a goal on the scoreboard.
In the 48th minute, Camden forward Emily Watts broke free for a one-on-one opportunity only to see her shot saved by Rosewood keeper Rionna Allen. Two minutes later, the Bruins broke the scoreless tie when Megan Hill fired a corner kick into the box and saw it deflect into the net off of Ashley Bunting.
The Bruins added an insurance goal in the 67th minute on a second corner from Hill that was headed home by Hannah Langerbeam.
"I thought we actually played better in the second half because we played with more confidence," Wells said. "But they scored on a couple of set pieces and that is a signature of a quality team. They can score a lot of different ways."
Camden was perfectly happy to run out the remaining minutes in front of keeper Shyanne Stone, who logged five saves in the shutout win. The Bruins finished the contest with a 13-6 advantage in shots on goal.
Allen recorded four saves for Rosewood, which concluded the year 7-6-2.