Rosewood takes down AG soccer

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 6, 2011 1:48 PM

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At first, it appeared Rosewood didn't learn a valuable lesson after its disastrous effort on the soccer pitch Monday afternoon.

The Eagles showed little spirit during their pre-game warm-up before kickoff against Ayden-Grifton on Wednesday, and the nonchalant attitude lit a fire under head coach Eddie Maldonado.

"They were goofing off a little bit, so I went ahead and stopped them right away," he said. "I told them we had to be serious. We're not going to have any goofing off tonight because we've got a job to do. The goal of the conference season is to get to the state playoffs."

Rosewood moved one step closer.

Freshman forward Joshua Drew notched the first goal of his prep career in the Eagles' 3-1 decision over the Chargers at Branch Pope Field. The Eagles (3-9-1 overall, 3-1-0 CC) triumphed for the third time in their last four outings with all three victories occurring against conference opposition.

"They got a little bit more serious, worked a little bit more harder (tonight)," said Maldonado. "When they put the effort in, good things will happen. I was pleased that they put the effort in (the game) and was pleased that we finished some of our chances.

"They gave us what we (the coaches) asked for tonight."

Tan Troung opened the scoring in the first half. The freshman forward ran onto a through ball from Bret Robinson and connected on a shot to the upper left 90.

It was Troung's second goal of the season.

Dee Mabry put the Eagles ahead 2-0 with an unassisted goal just before halftime.

"That was pure luck," laughed Maldonado.

Drew pushed Rosewood's advantage to 3-0 in the second half. Senior forward Matt Davis battled Ayden-Grifton sweeper Felipe Ramirez for a loose ball near the end line, and fired a low pass to Drew, who tucked it into the net.

The Chargers denied Daniel Herring's shutout bid with a penalty kick from Carson St. Andrews in stoppage time. Herring finished with three saves.