Eastern Wayne girls rally in ECC soccer semifinals

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on May 2, 2013 1:47 PM

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Charles B. Aycock's postseason demons don't appear to be disappearing anytime soon.

Eastern Wayne's Anne Reed Hulse scored the game-winning goal in a come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over the Golden Falcons in semifinal-round play of the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference girls' soccer tournament Wednesday evening.

The second-seeded Warriors (11-3-0 overall) face regular-season champion Cleveland in the title game Friday. Game time is 6 p.m.

The Golden Falcons (13-6-0) have not won an ECC tournament crown since 2006.

Emily Borel's corner kick sailed through the Warriors' defense and into the back of the net to give the Golden Falcons a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute.

Two minutes later, Cheyenne Warrick collected a loose ball outside the 18-yard box with room to operate. Warrick unleashed a long shot that got past Eastern Wayne keeper Erica Duke to increase Aycock's lead to 2-0.

The Warriors (11-3) began to generate offensive pressure of their own by working passes down the sidelines to forwards Megan Mozingo and Cheyenne Craft. Megan Reimer scored on a rebound off Mozingo's shot in the 12th minute to pull Eastern Wayne to within 2-1.

"A lot of teams that I've coached would have said, 'this is going to be a long day, let's try to get out of here with some dignity,'" Warriors' head coach Jorg Wagner said. "Our players were really motivated to play this game."

Duke charged out of the goal and dove to take the ball away from Warrick, who was sprinting all alone with the ball at her feet in the 48th minute. A minute later, McKenna Dove won a loose ball inside the 18-yard box following Craft's throw in.

Dove unleashed a high, knuckling shot that sailed over the head of Golden Falcons' keeper Alex Van Meir to tie the game at 2-2.

The game remained tied until the 64th minute when Hulse's shot from inside the 18-yard box deflected off an Aycock defender and into the goal. The Warriors' defense protected the 3-2 advantage.

"Anne is a very thrifty player," Wagner said. "She has deceptive speed and she has really come along."

Aycock pressured the Warriors' defense relentlessly during the final 15 minutes, but came up empty.

"We dominated the game in the first half and then we just couldn't score," Golden Falcons assistant coach Byron Adkins said. "I wish the season would end today because this is terrible to watch. It's the same mistakes over and over and over.

"If we draw a good team in the playoffs we'll be out."