Summers' 'zero to zero' theory motivates Warriors

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on May 4, 2016 1:49 PM

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bdavis@newsargus.com

DUDLEY -- Think zeroes.

Two of them to be exact.

The Eastern Wayne girls' soccer team thought of nothing -- but winning -- as it entered the second half against Southern Wayne's solid defense and offense on Tuesday evening.

The Warriors kicked two goals in the first half, but fought in the second as if they were scoreless. Eastern Wayne picked up one more goal to defeat the Saints, 3-0, in an Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference and county matchup.

"They (Saints) came out in the second half, tough," said Warriors head coach Scott Summers. "We told our girls, 'let's go out in the second half, we haven't won this game, we need to play until the last whistle blows'. So, we went into the half, zero to zero, in our minds."

Warriors striker Brennan Dove attacked the goal early in the first half, but Saints defenders denied her of any chance to score.

Dove then looked for her teammates on the wing to fire a shot. Rachel Ackee ran toward the goal, received the ball from Dove and scored for the Warriors with 26:53 left before halftime.

Dove set up for a 10-foot penalty kick against SW goalie Macy Weeks, but Dove watched the ball deflect off of Weeks' hands.

That didn't bother Madison Tallarida. She received an assist from Dove minutes later and kicked around Weeks for EW's second goal of the half.

The Saints stepped onto the field in the second half, looking at "2-0" on the scoreboard. Tara Best and Deniz Ucar launched direct shots and corner kicks, but the Saints remained scoreless.

SW turned up the defense.

Weeks denied nine shots until Alana Kazar dribbled to the goal with 10:38 remaining in regulation. Kazar kicked the ball, but it bounced off the side post. She quickly gathered the rebound and knocked it for the third goal.

Weeks stopped one more kick before the final whistle blew.

"We got a pretty good team so far, and it started with our goalie, Macy Weeks," said Saints head coach Mario Aguilar. "The whole four years, last year and this year, she has improved a lot. She's saved us, the whole entire season, about 600 goals."

Southern Wayne (2-14-0 overall, 1-10-0 ECC) plays host to South Central on Thursday, while Eastern Wayne (6-9-2, 4-7-0) welcomes Charles B. Aycock.

"The girls (Warriors) played hard defensively," Summers said. "They're looking a lot better. We've progressed along the way from the beginning of the season. That's all I can ask of my girls.

"We had multiple opportunities, and we finished with three (goals) tonight. Playing teams like this, we got to score more because they (Saints) can score at any time. That was the mentality going in, just don't stop because with these teams and how tough they are, close competition, we got to keep on working hard for our wins."