Pina pings in three goals for C.B. Aycock

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 6, 2012 1:48 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- The streak ended.

Barely.

Juan Pina recorded a hat trick and Collin Zacharzuk added two goals during Charles B. Aycock's wild, 5-3 triumph over Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference foe North Lenoir on the Hardy Talton Stadium pitch Wednesday evening. The Golden Falcons (2-0-1 overall, 1-0-0 ECC) snapped a three-game skid against the Hawks.

"It was bad to watch," CBA assistant coach Byron Adkins said. "It's one of those games where you win and you walk away saying 'how did we win that game with all the chances they had?'

"It was a tale of two halves."

Indeed.

The Golden Falcons controlled the tempo, sent balls into open spaces and generated consistent attacks on the Hawks' net, particularly in the first 24-plus minutes.

Aycock's first three shots resulted in goals -- Zacharzuk's rebound off a miss by Pina, Pina's score after a hard foul by a Hawks defender and Zacharzuk's second goal when NL keeper Caleb Baird overcompensated for a defensive mistake.

Pina added his second goal off of an assist from Bailey Lynch, who dribbled past a defender and flicked the ball into open space. Pina avoided a slide tackle and boosted the Golden Falcons' advantage to 4-1 at halftime.

"A team like Aycock is going to pass well and they're not going to make many mistakes," NL head coach Donnell Garris said. "You've got to earned your chances. We had two mistakes on defense in the first half on easy goals.

"We don't make technical mistakes, it might be a different game."

The second half was a different story.

North Lenoir (1-5-1, 0-2-0) set the pace and pressured the Aycock defense from the opening whistle. Senior forward Justin Shimer trimmed the deficit in half on a goal-scoring shot inside the 6-yard box off quick pass from teammate Grayson Kass.

The Hawks continued their relentless attack against the Golden Falcons, whose defensive shape never materialized. Shots clanged off of either the posts or crossbar, while others teasingly rolled just wide as time ticked away.

"We talked at halftime that we've got to play with heart, quit talking and get it done on the field," Garris said. "They committed to that. It's been a rough year so far. One win ... this team is better than that.

"We put enough pressure on everybody we play, but shots off the woodwork have been the story of our season. We just have to keep chipping away at it."

Aycock struggled to keep possession of the ball and gave it away cheaply from the 43rd to the 77th minutes. North Lenoir's Doerico Sutton just missed a header off of a cross inside the box and Joseph Grady misfired on a corner kick in the 75th minute.

Adkins replaced keeper Brandon Merritt (three saves) at that point and put in the diminutive Patrick Hall, who came up with two glove saves and a phenomenal cleat stop to keep the Hawks off the board.

"He had some great saves," Adkins said of Hall.

Sutton logged his second goal in the 78th minute and Pina completed his hat trick off of Lynch's throw-in during the 79th minute. The Golden Falcons rose to 10-3-0 overall against the Hawks since 2006.