Warriors run into talent-rich Rampants on soccer pitch

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on March 25, 2016 1:48 PM

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bdavis@newsargus.com

Kierra Christie stayed busy for 48 minutes.

The Eastern Wayne junior goalie made 10 saves against Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference rival J.H. Rose on Thursday evening.

"Our keeper (Makdad) is amazing," Warriors head coach Scott Summers said, whose team endured a 9-0, mercy-rule loss to the Rampants.

"She keeps us in a lot of games, but this team (Rose), they're coming from all angles. They're very hard to stop -- something our girls have never seen before."

Christie definitely saw it.

Juniors Sara Young and Sydney Spruill received drop offs at midfield and dribbled toward the goal to score for Rose.

Christie dove on the ball, but the Rampants were relentless.

Young assisted a teammate with the first goal two minutes into the game. Senior Mary Lisa Sypawks and sophomore Aeryn Parker attacked the net for two more goals within a minute of each other.

EW sophomore Madison Tallarida guarded Christie as the Rampants spread their offense and set up to kick. Tallarida launched the ball out of bounds to deny Rose a chance to score.

Freshman Colleen Christie and junior Felicia Audelo reached the Rampants' territory for the first time with 24 minutes left in the first half, but Rose's defense shut down the Warriors' offense.

Young dribbled the ball down the right side of the field and shot the ball for the Rampants' fourth goal. Spruill then assisted senior Elizabeth Sawyer with the next goal.

Parker scored again, and Spruill kicked a dagger with two seconds remaining on the clock before halftime. The Rampants (8-2-0 overall, 3-1-0 ECC) led the Warriors, 7-0.

Spruill dribbled around EW's defense and scored at the beginning of the second half. Freshman Cloe Pascasio scored at the eight-minute mark to end the game.

"It's good for us to see something like that, to see where we could be if we train a little bit harder," Summers said. "I told them that these girls (Rampants) play all year round. They're on some of the top club teams -- that's just something for us to look forward to. We just hope that from the first game we play this team, we progress into the next time we play them and try to keep the goals down."

The Warriors (3-4-2 overall, 1-2-0 ECC) travel to conference foe D.H. Conley on April 5.