WCDS drops Freedom soccer

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 8, 2012 11:29 PM

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Three quick strikes in a 31/2-minute span.

And Wayne Country Day's offense didn't stop from there.

Senior Cody Neal logged four goals, while Ramel Carpenter dished out three assists and provided one goal in an 8-2 romp over Freedom Christian on a humid Friday afternoon. It was the Coastal Plains Independent 1-A Conference opener for both teams.

"I thought we started off brilliantly, again, for the first 10 minutes and we kind of lost a little bit of shape," WCDS head coach Steve Ellis said. "Just because it was a slightly weaker team than we played on Wednesday, it was like everybody wanted to score.

"We were much better composed, moved the ball well instead of chasing it."

Five players found the back of the net for the Chargers, who owned decisive advantages in shots on goal (21-9) and corner kicks (9-3) in the 80-minute affair.

Miller Gerrard, Charlie Roethling and Henry Li each scored in the second half.

Neal and Carpenter hooked up in the sixth minute, and Carpenter tallied an unassisted strike just seconds into the eighth minute. Neal capped the quick start with an unassisted goal in the ninth minute.

Ellis attributed the early confidence to playing strong against No. 1-ranked and defending state champion Ahoskie Ridgecroft just two days earlier. While the officiating seemed questionable in some aspects, the Chargers kept their composure and worked their offense well.

"(Wednesday's game) told me a lot about the players' attitudes against tougher competition," Ellis said. "The boys kept their heads about them and hopefully that will go into when we play (CPIC foes) Greenfield and Epiphany later in the season."

Wayne Country Day (3-3-1 overall, 1-0-0) plays host to Greenfield on Tuesday afternoon. Kickoff is 4:45 p.m.