Saints hand Gators lopsided defeat
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on March 29, 2012 1:49 PM
DUDLEY -- The second annual Cross County Classic turned into a one-sided rout Wednesday evening.
Southern Wayne scored nine first-half goals and rolled to a 16-1 win over Spring Creek at the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex. Dixie Ramirez paced the Saints with six goals, while Alva Perez contributed five goals and three assists.
Cynthia Rivera scored off Perez's assist in the second minute. Two minutes later, Ramirez found the back of the net off of Perez's assist. Southern Wayne's lead grew to 3-0 in the seventh minute on Perez's goal.
"We had a tough night at Aycock on (Tuesday) night," Saints' head coach Michael Klemiuk said. "We just had to get some aggression out. We came out fast and we came out strong. I think the girls were inspired. I think they wanted to come out here and have a good showing.
"They were hungry."
Ramirez increased the margin to 4-0 in the 17th minute. Perez scored a minute later and assisted on Rivera's goal in the 26th minute.
Alyssa Borja scored the Gators' lone goal in the 30th minute.
Ramirez scored her third goal of the first half on Crystal Rivera's assist in the 33rd minute. Ramirez scored again before halftime and Cynthia Rivera capped Southern Wayne's first-half outburst in the opening 40 minutes.
"There's a continuity you have to have in your offense and I think the more we play together, the better we'll get together," Klemiuk said. "To come out and build some more confidence and to get our morale back up is important. We have a lot of work to do, but I think the second half of the season is going to be good for us."
Perez continued the Saints' offensive onslaught two minutes into the second half. Ramirez tacked on a pair of goals and Perez also scored twice more. Shannon Casto and Crystal Rivera also tallied goals.
Southern Wayne finished with 32 shots on goal.
Spring Creek keeper Bianca Morado recorded 10 saves.
The Saints (3-6-3 overall) travel to North Lenoir on April 3.