GIRLS' SOCCER: Molloy, Dove too much for South Central

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on April 8, 2017 11:19 PM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

If you're designing a defense to guard Eastern Wayne, you better consider senior attacker Brennan Dove.

But wait, there's also junior attacker Claire Molloy. You can't just leave her alone.

What's the solution when No. 7 (Dove) and No. 13 (Molloy) are both charging toward the 18-yard box? Most teams haven't figured it out, and neither did South Central on Friday night.

Molloy and Dove each scored two goals, and guided the Warriors to an efficient 5-2 victory and season sweep of the Falcons in Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference play.

"It's beautiful," said EW head coach Scott Summers. "...Those two girls are very dangerous. I feel like it is hard when you have two girls rather than just having one girl to mark up. That's a great luxury to have.

"We love it."

The dynamic combo has combined for 38 goals this season -- 19 for Dove and 19 for Molloy.

Molloy took her turn in the first half.

In the fourth minute, she found herself open and sent an absolute laser past the goalkeeper's hands. Thirty-two minutes later, Dove placed a long ball in front of Molloy. She caught up with the pass and easily finished for her second goal.

"The way they both just share the ball and knock it -- it's just good to see as a coach," Summers said. "As a coach, that's what you want to see. You want to see teamwork, and let the ball do the work and not the players. When those two are working together like that, it makes it hard for other teams to defend."

Dove took command in the second half.

In the 51st minute, Molloy slapped a pass across the front of the goal. Dove came charging in to meet the ball and touched it into the left corner.

Later in the half, Molloy tried a shot, but appeared to be tripped by a defender. Not giving up on the play, Dove collected the deflection and scored the Warriors' fifth goal.

"What helps (Molloy and Dove) a lot, is in the offseason, they play on the PGSA team together," Summers said. "So the chemistry is there. They know each other, they know how they play. And just showing the team that they don't have to do everything themselves. They can use each other."

The Warriors outshot the Falcons 17-5.

Yessi Gutierrez also scored for EW.

The only times Molloy and Dove have struggled were against 4-A powers New Bern, D.H. Conley and J.H. Rose.

Summers said he played a more defensive game against those teams. But now that he's seen each of the 4-A schools once, he may let the duo work their magic.

"The second round, I'm thinking about trying to see where we're at if we play our normal way," Summers said. "Going into the next games, I'm going to go on our regular attack and see where we're at right now."