Hawks, Warriors stage high-scoring affair

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on September 25, 2012 1:48 PM

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After allowing two goals in 19 minutes on Monday night North Lenoir settled down and played its game.

Eastern Wayne had difficulty just getting settled.

The Hawks scored four unanswered goals before halftime and picked up a 7-3 Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference victory at Little Big Horn.

The Warriors got on the scoreboard in the sixth minute when Preston Daly scored on Joe Herlihy's cross in the 18-yard box.

North Lenoir (4-7-2 overall, 2-3-1 ECC) answered four minutes later as Oscar Avila headed Michael Allred's pass past Eastern Wayne keeper Willie Smith.

Adrian Thompson collected a rebound off a save by Hawks' keeper Caleb Baird and deposited it into the back of the net to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead.

A minute later, Avila worked behind multiple Eastern Wayne defenders and scored off Doerico Sutton's assist to tie the game at 2-2.

Avila took advantage of a Warriors' defensive breakdown in the 22nd minute and won a goal kick from Baird in the air and raced toward the goal before slipping a shot past Smith to put North Lenoir in front for good at 3-2.

"We passed well," North Lenoir head coach Donnell Garris said. "We finished which is something we have been working on. It seems like we always seem to hit the post. We were able to take the lead and didn't give it up again, and that was nice to see us start to finish what we started instead of playing catch up."

Allred's shot deflected off Smith's hands and into the goal in the 23rd minute. Justin Shimer's unassisted goal in the 35th minute extended the Hawks' lead to 5-2.

"We have right now too many players that are for some reason or another that can't follow through on tactical directives," Eastern Wayne head coach Jorg Wagner said. "Giving up three goals in three minutes, that is where we lose games."

The Warriors (2-8-0, 0-6-0) demonstrated some life offensively early in the second half. Eastern Wayne earned a corner kick in the 41st minute and Fredy Garcia's shot missed just wide in the 50th minute. Baird made a fingertip save on Andrew Baker's shot in the 54th minute.

Herlihy's goal off Mitchell Kaspar's assist in the 59th minute cut the deficit to 5-3.

Sutton collected a loose ball that Smith had trouble hanging on to and scored to stretch North Lenoir's advantage to 6-3 in the 69th minute. Avila scored his fourth goal of the night on a penalty kick in the 77th minute to cap the scoring.

The Warriors visit South Johnston on Wednesday, while the Hawks travel to Cleveland.