Rosewood shuts out Princeton, 1-0

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 27, 2012 1:48 PM

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You can always expect the unexpected when archrivals Rosewood and Princeton duel in any sport.

Wednesday's clash on the soccer pitch was no exception.

The Eagles caught a lucky break in the ninth minute and triumphed 1-0 over the Bulldogs in their Carolina 1-A Conference contest at Branch Pope Field. Rosewood (8-4-0 overall) remained unbeaten in two league outings this season, while Princeton (5-5-2) departed 0-1-1 against conference opposition.

"Yeah, we got lucky ... got an easy goal at the beginning," Eagles head coach Eddie Maldonado said. "We couldn't get anything the rest of the game and luckily, they couldn't get anything the rest of the game, either."

Dee Mabry ran onto a loose ball in the midfield and fed a great pass to Thanh Truong, who worked his way between two defenders toward the Princeton goal. The Dogs' backline stopped in an effort to draw the offside flag, but Trong stayed onside and easily scored one-on-one against keeper Will Toler.

It was Trong's ninth goal of the season.

"I don't know what happened there," Princeton head coach Eusebio Montoya said. "I thought he was off as well and I think the boys thought he was off as well and they didn't chase. I thought we played very well in the first half and in the second half, but couldn't come through."

Princeton played without its top goal scorer, Oliver Balderas, who drew a double-yellow in a 3-3 draw against Ayden-Grifton on Monday. Montoya sat his striker and the Bulldogs missed his ability to create offense in the open field.

The Dogs attempted seven shots with just one on frame, and suffered their second shutout loss of the season. Toler recorded four saves between the pipes.

Rosewood attempted nine shots and misfired on two goal-scoring chances midway through the second half. Each shot rolled wide of the post during one-on-one breakaways.

"It was not a game that I was proud to be a part of tonight, we didn't play fairly well and I'm really not pleased with the way we acted toward the end of the game," Maldonado said.

Play turned physical in the final 20 minutes and the Eagles eventually paid the price on a hard foul around the 75-minute mark.

The midfield official issued a yellow card to the Dogs' Bradley Barnes after a hard foul against Rosewood's Brice McKeel. McKeel received a yellow card on the play. Teammate Jyonte Raynor was ejected and will miss the Eagles' next two matches today against Neuse Charter and next Wednesday at Ayden-Grifton.