Rosewood, Midway duel to 0-0 draw
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on August 17, 2011 1:47 PM
Rosewood head coach Eddie Maldonado would have loved a result, but he'll settle for his team's gutsy effort.
The youthful Eagles, with just four seniors on their roster, battled Midway for 80 minutes in a 0-0, season-opening draw Tuesday evening at Branch Pope Field.
Rosewood failed to convert on corner kicks in the third and seventh minutes. Reed Howell's shot off Bret Robinson's assist in the 13th minute sailed high.
"We've still got a lot of work to do," said Maldonado. "I'm happy with 0-0 and I'm happy that we kept them out of the net. I wish we could have created a little bit more. But, we're working on it."
The Raiders had a golden scoring opportunity in the 19th minute, but Elory Hernandez's penalty kick went well wide of the goal. Robinson's free kick clanged off the crossbar in the 22nd minute.
Midway (1-0-1 overall) had a goal waived off on an offsides call in the 37th minute.
The Eagles (0-0-1) squandered three more scoring chances in the final 12 minutes of regulation. Freshman Joshua Drew's header off of Robinson's corner kick in the 68th minute went just over the crossbar. Rosewood also wasted corner kicks in the 78th and 80th minutes.
"At halftime I told them, 'Bret's playing great balls.'" said Maldonado. "'When we get a corner, we've got to get on the end of it.' They knew they should have gotten on to it."
Junior Jyonte Raynor and sophomore Daniel Herring combined for three saves in goal for the Eagles.
"Jy and Daniel both did well" said Maldonado. "The good thing about it is we've got two good goalies. We're young, in the back we're starting a freshman. The young kids are working hard and the older boys are doing a good job of showing them what to do."
The two teams meet again Aug. 22 in Spivey's Corner.