GIRLS' SOCCER: Eastern Wayne controls tempo against Golden Falcons

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 5, 2017 9:57 AM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Eastern Wayne got the start it wanted.

Charles B. Aycock...not so much.

From the opening whistle to the final second, the Warriors walked away with a dominating 3-1 performance over their Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference rivals Tuesday evening.

"Very lethargic. There's no urgency," CBA head coach Byron Adkins said. "Eastern Wayne, from the start, they were in front of us, behind us, all about hustle. Everything they wanted to do, they were allowed to do.

"We basically had no heart and no fight, and that's not to take anything away from Eastern Wayne because I thought they played really well."

And executed a simple gameplan.

The Warriors (9-3 overall, 3-3-0 ECC) won either the first or second ball -- on the air or on the ground -- on nearly every possession. The defense forced turnovers, which in turn, led to a pressure-minded attack that kept CBA goalie Mckenzie Norris active between the pipes.

Norris finished with four saves.

"The key was to win everything on their half of the field in the air first," EW head coach Scott Summers said. "That keeps pressure on this side (CBA field) and that keeps us attacking more. I was happy I got to go with my attacking side instead of my defending side."

There was one problem.

EW couldn't finish.

The first seven shots, three well-played by Norris in a crowded box, yielded nothing. Summers appeared a little concern as the clock ticked below 3 minutes in the opening half.

Then came a big sigh of relief.

The Warriors were awarded a throw-in on the far side of the field. Alana Kazar easily gathered the ball and delivered a one-strike touch to Brennan Dove, who tucked it away in the lower left corner past a diving Norris.

1-0 EW.

"We were peppering the goal...lot of shots, lot of opportunities and that was good to see," Summers said. "It would have been nice to see some of those go in early because they kept us on our toes for a while."

Claire Molloy provided an unassisted goal in the 60th minute and Dove delivered her second strike in the 76th.

Aycock (4-6-0, 2-4-0) avoided the shutout on Hannah Spier's goal in the 77th.

It was Spier's lone good look at an open net. The Warriors' tandem of sophomore Rachel Ackee and Madison Tallarida constantly hounded Spier all afternoon. They refused to let her turn toward her right, and the strategy -- more often than not -- resulted in frustration and a turnover.

"I told her before the game you're going to have two players on you," Adkins said. "If we could have gotten the ball over the top (of the defense) and made it a foot race, then she would have out-ran both of them. But the problem is I don't have a player who can get the ball over top."

Adkins described his team's midfield play as "poor" and credited the Warriors for controlling every phase of the game. EW led 15-8 in shots and 5-1 in corner kicks. Keeper Raelynn Clark had five saves.