Warrick notches 6 goals on senior night

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on April 26, 2013 1:47 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Charles B. Aycock put quite an exclamation mark on its regular-season finale Thursday evening.

Cheyenne Warrick scored six goals and the Golden Falcons rolled past Southern Wayne 9-0 on senior night at Hardy Talton Stadium. Both teams begin play in the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference tournament next week.

Aycock (12-5-0 overall, 9-3-0 ECC) controlled the possession throughout the contest and pressured the Saints' defense early and often. With just one defender assigned to her, Warrick found plenty of space to roam and the Golden Falcons' midfield continuously fed passes up the field.

Southern Wayne goalkeeper Macy Weeks turned away shots by Warrick from inside the 18-yard box in the seventh and 10th minutes. Warrick scored off Alex Strickland's assist in the 11th minute to put Aycock in front 1-0.

Warrick headed a rebounded off Strickland's shot past Weeks in the 16th minute as the lead grew to 2-0. Warrick scored again in the 29th minute and Sabrina Johnson's goal in the 35th minute extended the Golden Falcons' advantage to 4-0.

Strickland and Warrick each tacked on goals before halftime.

"The ball movement was really good tonight," Aycock assistant coach Byron Adkins said. "Southern Wayne, South Johnston and Triton are some of the only teams that don't mark Cheyenne with three (defenders). Tonight our midfield created a whole lot more and our forwards were able to get free."

The Saints' lone scoring opportunity of the opening 40 minutes came on Maria Gutierrez's long-range shot in the sixth minute that was saved by Golden Falcons' keeper Alex Van Meir.

Warrick scored on Strickland's assist just two minutes into the second half. Strickland recorded her second goal of the night in the 49th minute. Warrick's goal in the 77th minute brought the mercy-rule shortened game to a close. Warrick increased her goal total for the season to 48.

Aycock lost in the ECC tournament finals each of the past two seasons. Capturing the conference tournament title for the first time since 2006 and entering the state playoffs with plenty of momentum is a priority for the Golden Falcons.

"I would like to win a conference tournament title with the girls," Adkins said. "I think we can this year. We have to be a little more focused on ourselves in terms of playing defense and doing other things. But, I think it's something we can win."