Saints stay perfect on soccer pitch

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on March 8, 2013 1:47 PM

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Southern Wayne took advantage of some fortunate bounces.

Rosewood was left wishing it had made the most of its opportunities.

Maria Gutierrez scored a pair of goals and Southern Wayne earned a 4-1, non-conference win at Branch Pope Field on Thursday evening.

The Saints (3-0-0 overall) struck for three goals in the first half.

Gutierrez collided with Eagles' keeper Rionna Allen inside the 18-yard box and the ball popped loose out of Allen's hands. Gutierrez collected the loose ball and tucked it into the net in the 27th minute.

Alva Perez beat Allen with a shot over her head in the 38th minute. Mary Jane Brooks extended Southern Wayne's lead to 3-0 in stoppage time by collecting a loose ball inside the 18-yard box and scoring.

Southern Wayne finished with 13 shots on goal.

"I talked to my two strikers and I told them where they had to go," Southern Wayne head coach Mario Aguilar said. "We changed some positions around and we started passing the ball to the wing, and we were able to score some goals."

Rosewood (1-1-0) failed to convert on a pair of quality scoring chances in the opening 40 minutes. Logan Bill's indirect kick from just outside the 18-yard box missed just high in the 15th minute. Lexi Mercer's shot from point-blank range was turned away by Saints' keeper Macy Weeks in the 31th minute.

"We didn't have a lot of energy in the first half and I think things would have changed if we would have had a lot of energy in the first five minutes," Bill said. "We had it on the our half almost the entire (first half) and just got unlucky. I think we need to start working on finishing the ball more and our first touches."

Mercer got the Eagles on the scoreboard in the 67th minute when she beat Weeks with a shot from inside the 18-yard box in the 67th minute.

Gutierrez capped Southern Wayne's scoring with an unassisted goal in the 79th minute.

The Saints begin Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference play at home tonight against Triton. Rosewood travels to Midway on Monday.