Warriors' defense preserves lone goal scored by Dove

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on April 8, 2016 1:48 PM

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Brennan Dove appeared tired.

Her mind and momentum, however, was on full speed.

The Eastern Wayne junior striker attempted 11 shots until -- finally -- the ball landed in the corner of the net. The lone goal lifted the Warriors to a 1-0 victory over Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A rival Southern Wayne on Thursday evening.

"I was getting a little frustrated down there," Dove said. "I just had to keep trying my hardest and trying my best to get around her (SW's Macy Weeks), and she's a good goalie and stuff. But I tried my hardest."

Dove definitely tried, and succeeded when she set up in the box for an angle kick past Weeks with 22 minutes left in the game.

"It was very relieving," smiled Dove. "I was very excited because it had been a long time, and I was tired, so I was ready to score to get some more momentum from my team so we could do better in the second half."

The first half displayed the Warriors' defensive improvements. They kept the Saints from passing midfield for the majority of the half, and Eastern Wayne smothered Southern Wayne's strikers from having a chance at scoring.

The Saints held on.

Iveth Arueta dribbled around defenders in the first half and passed the ball to her teammates, but the ball flew past the goal. In the second half, the Saints attacked the goal, but missed shots -- and opportunities -- to score.

"We had opportunities today, but I got some girls with some injuries," Saints head coach Mario Aguilar said. "We're missing our strikers right now, so we couldn't do too much. But we're going to keep on trying. It's a good game tonight."

Dove continued dribbling toward the goal in the second half, utilizing teammates Felicia Audelo and Claire Molloy, but missed opportunities plagued the Warriors as well.

"Work harder as a unit going forward, offensively," Eastern Wayne head coach Scott Summers said. "That's what we talked about at the half. We've got to not just kick the ball up to Brennan and say, 'Brennan go'. It's got to be everybody that's got to go with her. That way, she (Dove) has options.

"We had multiple opportunities we could have finished, but I got a young team, and we're all learning. I got a good group of girls, and they're all willing to learn, so each game, we're picking up things. We'll get better as we go."

The Warriors (3-5-0 overall, 1-3-0 ECC) travel to Charles B. Aycock next Tuesday. The Saints (4-8-0, 1-5-0) play host to New Bern next Thursday.