Chargers strike early vs. Eagles

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on April 15, 2012 1:52 AM

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Sarah Best helped Wayne Country Day build a first-half lead.

The Chargers' defense made sure it stood up.

Best scored twice in the first half and Wayne Country Day stood tall defensively to earn a 3-1, non-conference win over Rosewood on Friday evening at Branch Pope Field.

Best opened the scoring in the eighth minute by winning the ball from an Eagles' defender in transition and dribbled past multiple defenders before beating Rosewood keeper Rionna Allen.

Cory Smith tied the game for the Eagles in the 17th minute by collecting a rebound off a corner kick in the 18-yard box and slipping it past Chargers' keeper Bailee Creger.

Best took Catherine Ford's assist in the 19th minute, raced through Rosewood's defense and ripped a shot past Allen to put Wayne Country Day in front 2-1.

"One of our goals was to come out and push the ball forward and keep the pace of the game moving quick," Chargers' head coach Paul Casey said. "In some of our other games we haven't been as fast-paced as we were tonight."

Ford just missed scoring in the 42nd minute when Allen made a fingertip save on her shot. A minute later, Ford's blast from inside the 18-yard box deflected off a defender and past Allen.

The Eagles (2-4-2 overall) had their share of the possession throughout the second half and relentlessly pressured Wayne Country Day's defense, but rarely generated scoring chances. Rachyle McAlduff's shot off Logan Bill's pass in the 66th minute was stopped by Creger.

"We couldn't get a good tempo going," Rosewood assistant coach Lewis Potter said. "We get glimpses of glory and then it just falls apart. Things we practice over and over it doesn't seem to come together like it should."

The Chargers' defense routinely cleared away crossing passes and cut off through balls intended for forwards streaking down the sidelines.

"A lot of what we talked about at halftime was our defense," Casey said. "That's what we've been working on all season We've got a really strong defense and we've been trying to get our outside defenders to move in and back up our middle defenders, and they really came on and did that in the second half."

Allen finished with six saves and Creger tallied four.

The Eagles visit Spring Creek on Monday, while Wayne Country Day (7-4-0) plays host to Epiphany on Tuesday.