Wagner employs younger players in 2nd half vs. Conley

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on September 25, 2013 1:47 PM

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rhanchett@newsargus.com

In poker, players are forced to work with the cards that they are dealt.

Eastern Wayne soccer coach Jorg Wagner knows when his hand isn't too good.

The Warriors lost 10-1 to Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference foe D.H. Conley on Tuesday night. With a 3-A league opponent, Charles B. Aycock, on the schedule for tonight Wagner decided to rest his starters and play his reserves in the second half against the 4-A Vikings.

"At the end of the day, playing back-to-back when one game means a lot more than another is a bad situation," Wagner said. "In order to make the playoffs and get the best seed possible we have to beat C.B. Aycock and Southern Wayne.

"We decided the best way to go was to rest our starters and come out ready to go tomorrow night."

Eastern Wayne used its normal lineup to start the game and began rotating substitutes in before halftime. Trailing 1-0 at the break, Wagner stuck to his strategy and cleared his bench.

D.H. Conley got a goal in the 41st minute when Eric Argueta made a long run and fired a shot past the keeper.

Eastern Wayne pulled within 2-1 two minutes later when Victor Kokiko found a loose ball and put a shot into the top right corner of the net.

"I thought the guys who went out there after halftime did a pretty good job," Wagner said. "We scored a goal and we held on for a while, but in the end (D.H. Conley) opened things up."

The Vikings' captain Nate Evans scored two goals in three minutes to put the game out of reach. Ramon Vargas made the score 5-1 before Evans completed his hat trick in the 54th minute.

Argueta scored two more goals to earn a hat trick of his own.

Evans tallied a fourth goal in the 65th minute and Robbie Moore ended the game with a goal in the 70th minute to complete the 10-1 final.

Eastern Wayne (4-4-0 overall, 1-3-0 ECC) plays host to C.B. Aycock tonight at 6 p.m.