ROANOKE RAPIDS – East Bladen’s Lady Eagles gave up an early goal in the first few minutes then stayed within 1-0 of No. 5 seed Roanoke Rapids until the final minute of play before dropping a 2-0 decision in the 2nd round of the NCHSAA Class 2A Girls Soccer Playoffs
“It was a great game and one of the better games we have played this year,” said Lady Eagle Coach Jay Raynor. “Roanoke is a good team and made two more plays than we did. We wanted to keep them in front of us and not let them in behind us. Our backs and goalkeeper did an unbelievable job tonight for us. They keep us in the game and turned RR away time and time again.”
The Lady Yellowjackets scored in the opening minutes of the game due to the efforts of speedy freshman Casey Neal. “They got around us to the end line and laid a ball off,” described Raynor. “We had it covered but it looked like we had some miscommunication of whose ball it was. The ball trickled into the lower corner. That was a tough one to give up but we were locked in after that.”
Raynor went on to praise the play of all of his defenders but noted that Molly Evans and goalie Reese Hester had “the best games of their lives. “Reese made some tough saves and came out on the better side of some 50/50 balls. Her best save of the night I thought was a kick save she made as she had to cut back to make a play on a loose ball.”
“Molly did a phenomenal job tonight,” stated Raynor. “RR is an extremely left sided team and that put their attack on Molly all night. Molly was relentless and made play after play. Their striker on that side (Neal) has lots of speed and Molly stopped that tonight. Molly stayed with her and took her out of a majority of the game.”
Raynor continued, “Molly also had a goal line clearance inside of 10 minutes to play. Reese and our backs had made a stop but were caught out of position on a loose ball. Molly came flying from her right side to clear a ball that was shot at the open goal. That was not only a hustle play, but a heads-up play. Molly was locked in and just like all the other girls, left everything on the field.”
The Lady Yellowjacket defense blanked East Bladen’s high-scoring Maya McDonald. “Maya had some decent looks but we just couldn’t seem to find the right ball at her feet,” noted Raynor. “Maya was marked with 2 girls a majority of the game, and with 3 at one point as their backline completely shifted over to her side. Jackie (Medina-Leal and Maya worked well together all season as well as tonight. We got some decent looks but just couldn’t seem to find the back of the net.”
“After the first goal we made adjustments to our system and layered our midfield,” said Raynor. “RR kept finding space behind our defensive midfielders. That was causing our backs to be pulled and forcing them to cover space in front that opened up a lot of space behind us. Anna (Miranda), Acee (Campbell), and Heidi (Rebollar) did a great job of adjusting. The adjustment caused them to get out of what they wanted to do as well as forced a lot of turnovers, leading to some counter attacks for us. Those three ladies did all they could and for the most part took their best player out of the game. They forced her to sit back and send long balls that our backs, especially Merritt (Martin) and Reese could easily deal with.”
Raynor continued, “Cydney (Campbell) had a heck of a game tonight as well. We put Cyd on the right side with Molly to stop their attack. Cydney is one our most experienced wingers and we knew she was up for the task. It wasn’t an easy one but she held her own and stayed with her mark. She did a great job and her experience and leadership showed tonight. Big moment late in the second half for us was Cydney going up to head and clear a very dangerous ball out of the box. She attacked the ball and did all she could to make sure it didn’t end up in the back of the net.
“As the game went on, we got better,” shared Raynor. “RR was visually frustrated and did not bring the same intensity they started the game with. I credit that to our girls. They didn’t back down, stuck to the game plan, and made it extremely hard for RR to do anything but drive long balls to our goal.”
“Nene (Iveonna Ward) and Jackie helped us on the left wing tonight,” said Raynor. “Jackie started up top and gave us some great looks and chances. Late in the second half the game seemed to be played on our left side and we couldn’t seem to find Jackie up top. We moved Nene up top and brought Jackie to the left wing hoping she would be able to give us that ball for Nene or Maya to run onto. Nene’s and Maya’s speed up top was something their backs were having a difficult time with. We just couldn’t find that final ball in our attack to give us a great look on goal.”
Near the end of the game, East Bladen made another adjustment. “We knew we had to gamble and slide Molly up top. Molly is a scorer who enjoys playing in the back. We knew if we could get her the ball we would have a good opportunity to tie things up. We slid Molly up top for the last five minutes and did our best to send balls forward. We had one ball go her way but it took a bounce that negated our chances to make a play on it.”
With 48 seconds left to play, Roanoke Rapids tacked on a clinching goal. “I hate we gave up that second goal but we had to gamble and that’s the price you pay,” stated Raynor. “Losing 0-2 is no different than 0-1. We had to go forward and take a chance.
“We had a great season (13-3), and I hope we can build off this year going forward, concluded Raynor. “We love our Seniors and they will be tough to replace. They all have brought so much to our team especially their leadership and their desire to be better. Those ladies have taught the underclassmen a lot. They are special. They work hard, they play hard, and do things the right way. They are winners on and off the field.”
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