GIRLS' SOCCER: Warriors' 'D' grounds Eagles' attack

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on March 8, 2017 9:57 AM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

Rosewood's offense tried to make plays happen.

Senior Payton Lane and freshman Hannah Rhodes constantly scrambled to the box, desperate for a shot. But each possession ended the same -- with a swarm of Eastern Wayne defenders saying, 'absolutely not.'

The Warriors held the Eagles to just two shots on goal, and clinched a 2-0 victory at Branch Pope Field Tuesday evening.

EW has outscored opponents 8-1 in its first two games of the season.

"It's been good," said EW head coach Scott Summers, referring to his defense. "We're young back there and still trying to work on some things. But overall when you get a shutout it's always a good thing for the team."

Both sides struggled to score in the first half.

The Eagles drew four corner kicks in the first 40 minutes, but each kick was immediately slammed away by a Warriors' defender.

Rosewood head coach Kevin Martin believed spacing was one of the main offensive issues for the Eagles.

"I think we just had too big of a gap between our midfielders and our forwards," he said. "We're going to have to work on that in the next couple of weeks."

Because the Warriors' backline kept the Eagles grounded, EW's offense held possession for most of the match. That meant a host of opportunities.

In the first half, EW had five shots on goal -- but all were saved by Eagles' goalkeeper Hannah Daniels. The Warriors' defense remained stifling, and continued to pass the ball upfield to Brennan Dove, Claire Molloy and Alana Kazar.

Five minutes into the second half, EW's offense finally rewarded the defense's effort. Dove received the ball toward the top of the 16-yard box, and sliced it past Daniels' hands.

Twenty minutes later, Kazar sprinted toward the box and her shot ricocheted off the left post and into the net.

"During halftime, we told them, whenever we get in front of the goal, we have to put them away," Summers said. "Because we're going to see a lot of teams this year that we're not going to get as many opportunities."

EW finished the game with 10 shots on goal and five corner kicks. Despite the loss, Daniels notched eight saves for Rosewood.

Summers applauded the defense's effort, but added that the offense must come through when presented chances. He knows the road only gets tougher from this point.

"We're going to have to finish those one or two chances that we get," Summers said. "That was the main goal -- we have to finish. There was too many times where we got right in front of the goal and we missed it wide or missed the whole goal.

"It's something we have to work on as a team."