Soccer -- Spier nets hat trick, Falcons roll

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on March 21, 2017 10:21 AM

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PIKEVILLE -- C.B. Aycock's offense sputtered to begin the season.

Two games and zero goals. Not exactly what Golden Falcons' head coach Byron Adkins wants. So the veteran made some adjustments, including one big one -- get the ball to Hannah Spier's foot.

The strategy worked to perfection against South Johnston Monday night. The sophomore attacker tallied a hat trick and an assist, lifting the Golden Falcons to a dominant 6-1 victory.

CBA has won three consecutive games after losing the first two of the season. In those three wins, Spier has recorded 11 goals.

"We've changed a few things around," Adkins said. "We play a little bit more direct now. With Hannah (Spier's) speed, we try to use that as best we can...It's definitely picked up. Changed a few things in the system, and it's working better for us now."

Through most of the first half, Adkins pleaded with Spier to anticipate the ball coming to her instead of waiting.

The young attacker responded to the critique in the 18th minute. Senior Kennedy Sherman snuck a pass to Spier's feet, and the sophomore slammed the ball away to give CBA a 1-0 lead.

Then in the 39th minute, it was captain Anna Seguin who found Spier on the fast break to push the lead to 3-0.

"You have to be more active as opposed to being reactive," said Adkins, explaining his advice for Spier. "And (Spier) wants to wait for the ball and then sprint 20 yards to try and catch up with it. But we'll work on that a little bit. And we were better in the second half, as opposed to the first half."

The game opened up for the Golden Falcons' attack in the second half. Colleen Jones added a penalty kick in the 65th minute. CBA then scored two more goals in the next eight minutes. Lauren Smith found a streaking Spier in the 69th minute. Spier ended her busy day with an assist to Jones in the 73rd minute.

Although Adkins trusts Spier, he thinks a variety of scoring would strengthen the team's offense.

"I'd love to see it spread around equally amongst three or four people," Adkins said. "That makes us even more dangerous...(Jones) got a couple of goals tonight so maybe that will take on from there and help us out a little bit more."

The Golden Falcons outshot the Trojans 15-6, and also registered four corner kicks.

Adkins said that he likes where his team is at right now, but noted that much tougher tests are ahead for CBA.

He's hoping the Golden Falcons will survive those challenges.

"It's good right now until we play the power schools -- Conley, New Bern and Greenville Rose," Adkins said. "And then of course, we struggle with those. But we need to win the games we need to win and hopefully come out of this at 6-6."