New Bern deals Aycock first defeat on soccer pitch

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 20, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- Charles B. Aycock appeared headed for a positive result in its Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference girls' soccer opener Wednesday evening.

The Golden Falcons were missing in action in the second half.

League-leading New Bern collected three goals within a 15-minute stretch and cruised to a 4-1 victory on a soggy and slippery Hardy Talton Stadium pitch.

"The first half, they probably dominated the first 10 or 15 minutes, then I thought things kind of evened out and we got into the flow of the game," CBA assistant coach Byron Adkins said. "The second half I thought we be even again, but my two center midfielders decided they were going to take the night off and from there it was downhill ... horrible to watch."

New Bern (6-1 overall, 3-0 ECC) controlled the midfield play and created early attacks on goal to start the second half. Golden Falcons keeper Sarina Lancaster stopped three shots inside the 18-yard box to preserve the 1-1 tie during the first 10 minutes.

Lancaster finished with 10 saves on the night.

The Bears continued to manage the midfield, stretched the Golden Falcons' defense and pushed the ball into open spaces. They finally broke through again in the 55th minute.

Aycock (3-1, 0-1) committed a hard foul inside the box, which set up a penalty kick-scoring goal for junior Rachel Hobbs.

"The second half ... a little change in gears and moving forward with numbers," New Bern head coach Tim Guter said. "If we are going to score goals, that's what we have to do, attack with numbers (and) not have just one or two players (move forward).

"Everyone got into the attack and we owned the space."

Freshman forward Kathryn Dixon collected her second goal in the 66th minute. Four minutes later, Jessica Hand capped the scoring with a header off of a corner kick from sophomore Mikayla Allen.

The Bears owned a 19-7 advantage in shots and attempted six corner kicks to none for the Golden Falcons.

Aycock's Emily Borel, who provided the game-tying goal midway through the opening half, and Alex Strickland each attempted one shot on frame in the final 40 minutes.

"If our midfield doesn't do better than what they did tonight, we're not going to win too many games," Adkins said. "There was no communication, our touch was horrible ... they went away from everything we that we've worked on in practice.

"It was a slew of things ... poor to watch tonight."

The Golden Falcons visit Southern Wayne today.