Cougars break 2-2 tie, open season with win on EW soccer pitch

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 18, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Christian Anderson's laser shot just outside the 18-yard box curled around Goldsboro keeper Cameron Roux and settled into the net.

The goal created a 2-2 tie just eight minutes before halftime.

"I think it fired us up a little bit, because we should be winning," Goldsboro's Jacob Seate said. "In the jamboree, we won 4-1, so we knew we could do better than what we were doing."

Seate supplied the go-ahead goal barely 60 seconds after Anderson's strike, and Goldsboro eventually claimed a 6-3 victory in the season-opening match for both teams on a humid Monday evening.

A returning starter, Seate punched in two goals and received single-goal efforts by four teammates -- freshman Colin Williams, returning starters Ruben Quiroz and Mickey Eovine, and sophomore Jacob Oliver.

"I think our offense is going to really well this year," Seate said.

But the 80-minute affair, marred by chippy second-half play, revealed areas of improvement for both teams.

Eastern Wayne, directed by first-year head coach Scott Summers, must work through the loss of 12 seniors. The Warriors, at times, organized themselves and built attacks from the back only to see the Cougars step into open spaces and disrupt their offensive flow.

Revalyno Antoine put Eastern Wayne on the board in the 29th minute, followed by Anderson's goal three minutes later.

"There is potential all over the field, they just have to put it together as a team," said Summers, whose team owned a 12-10 edge in shots, but took just two corner kicks compared to six for the Cougars.

Seate and coach Rocky McAlduff both agreed that Goldsboro didn't close down the space when Eastern Wayne knotted the contest within a three-minute stretch.

"We messed up, stepped too far forward and weren't tracking back like we were supposed to, so that's an area we can definitely improve in," Seate said. "We definitely need to make sure we hold our line, talk to each other a bit more and know where our marks are. A couple of goals, we just left our marks and they were clean (shots) on goal.

"With a knew keeper, he's not adjusted quite yet on how to come out and he's still learning."

Roux had four saves.

Eovine's mark two minutes into the second half gave Goldsboro it's second two-goal advantage of the game. EW closed to within 4-3 Alfrado Cabrera's goal in the 64th minute.

Oliver and Seate iced the outcome with goals just eight minutes apart.

"I think every game from here on out is a learning experience for a lot of the boys ... lot of them didn't have game experience," Summers said. "We've got to learn as a team and as individuals, so it's going to take some time. It's a process, a challenge that we're looking forward to."