Gators put Warriors away in 15-minute stretch

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 29, 2013 1:49 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Spring Creek's 15 minutes of euphoria proved disastrous for Eastern Wayne on the soccer pitch Wednesday evening.

The Gators needed that amount of time to ambush the Warriors on the Little Big Horn pitch. Junior forward Otto Binar punched in two unassisted goals and three teammates added one goal apiece in a 6-0, non-conference victory.

The loss snapped Eastern Wayne's modest two-match win streak.

Barely five minutes into the game, Spring Creek established an offensive pattern. The Gators' movement down the sidelines stretched the Warriors' defense and created shots on goal that they failed to finish.

Until the 10th minute.

Binar just managed to stay onside and broke loose for a one-on-one against Eastern Wayne keeper Alex Sandoval, who transferred in the offseason from Southern Wayne. Sandoval challenged, but couldn't wrap his gloves around the ball as Binar's eventual game-winning goal rolled into the net.

Spring Creek (1-0-1 overall) added three more goals within a four-minute span. An own goal and scoring shots by Ivan Lemus and Brayan Lopez pushed the advantage to 4-0 just 16 minutes in.

"Our game the other night against Greene Central, we came out flat and played as individuals ... not playing team ball," second-year SC head coach Linda Salter said. "Everything we talked about yesterday (Tuesday) in practice was passing, team ball, working the ball and driving it into the goal."

Binar's second goal made it 5-0 as the first half ended with a frightening injury to Eastern Wayne's Ryan Flemming. Flemming landed on the back of his head and complained of pain in his lower neck while trainers from both schools attended to him.

Flemming remained conscious and didn't lose any feeling in either his upper or lower extremities. He was transported to Wayne Memorial as a precaution and later released.

Eastern Wayne (2-1-0) played without three starters in the opening half due to violation of team rules. Once they returned to the field, the Warriors played better defensively and generated some offense on goal.

"We started some reserves and hoped to maybe put up a little bit more intelligent of a fight, but Spring Creek individually has technically good players and made it difficult for us to get anything offensively going in the first half," EW head coach Jorg Wagner said. "Those 15 minutes ... it's difficult, especially for the younger players, to shake something like that off the first time they come off the bench featured in a competitive match."

Brayan Lopez capped the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 72nd minute. The Gators owned a decisive 22-7 edge in shots.