Eastern Wayne-So. Wayne soccer

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on October 11, 2011 1:48 PM

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DUDLEY -- Southern Wayne was playing for pride.

That little extra effort led to a big upset as the Saints downed Eastern Wayne 5-4 in overtime on the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference boys' soccer scene Monday night.

With almost no chance to make the state playoffs, the Saints had no tangible incentive to play hard against the Warriors, who had a lot to lose in the chase for a playoff spot.

"This game still meant a lot to the guys and it showed," said Southern Wayne head coach Mario Aguilar. "We lost two games last week, so we needed a win and tonight our guys played really well."

Eastern Wayne scored first when Jae Kim collected a pass from Tyler Muehlenthaler and fired the Warriors' first shot of the game into the net in the eighth minute.

Southern Wayne (3-9-1 overall, 2-6 ECC) tied the score in the 21st minute when Anuar Ramirez collected a pass from Billy Gonzalez and posted his first goal of the game. Ramirez gave the Saints a 2-1 lead in the 27th minute when he redirected a rebound into the net.

Nathan Viehweger made the score 3-1 when he tallied a goal for the Saints in the 34th minute.

"In a game like this it's hard to say where the breakdowns were in the defense," said Eastern Wayne head coach Jorg Wagner. "We needed to win this game and we didn't. Now every game is a must-win game the rest of the season."

Eastern Wayne (3-10-0, 3-6) battled back in the opening moments of the second half.

Muehlenthaler collected a long pass from Preston Daly and scored to pull the Warriors within one goal. Muehlenthaler tied the game 3-3 on a pass from Mitchell Kaspar in the 62nd minute.

Southern Wayne regained the lead in the 74th minute when Victor Valazquez drilled a shot from the 30-yard line and watched as it sailed over the Warrior keeper. Eastern Wayne sent the game to overtime two minutes later when Joe Herlihy belted a loose ball into the net to tie the game at 4-4.

"Four goals has got to be enough on the road," said Wagner. "If you score four goals in any conference game you have to make it stand up and we didn't get it done."

Viehweger put the Saints ahead for good in the fourth minute of overtime when he raced past a defender and ran onto a long ball played by Jose Rodriquez and chipped a shot just under the crossbar. Southern Wayne dropped back and defended until time expired.

"We lost three guys last week due to injury so we had to make some adjustments," said Aguilar. "We dropped in a couple of new guys in the midfield and we were able to pull together."