Senior Lacey Suggs fired in 2 goals as East Bladen opened Four County Conference play with a 3-1 girls soccer victory at Midway Monday night.
Both teams entered the game with unbeaten non-conference records. The Lady Eagles improve to 7-0 overall, while Midway drops to 5-1. “We have already won as many games as we did last year,” said East Bladen Coach Jay Raynor.
East Bladen struck quickly with a goal in the tenth minute. Sophmore Hannah Devane blasted a free kick from 28 yards out that caromed off the crossbar. Suggs outjumped the Midway keeper and headed the ball into the goal for a 1-0 lead.
A scouting trip to see the Lady Raiders paid off in the next Lady Eagle goal. “We noticed that there was some room in front of their backline,” said East Bladen Coach Jay Raynor. “So we tried some long crosses once we crossed midfield.”
Suggs crossed midfield and sent a long cross across the edge of the 18 yardline, and Devane ran onto the ball and knocked it in for a 2-0 Lady Eagle lead midway the first half.
“They dominated the first half,” said Coach Raynor. “There No. 3 (sophmore Kasey McLamb) is a very good player. We ‘marked her’ in the second half. We did not let her penetrate with the ball and it really stopped their offense. We began to dominate play in the second half.”
Raynor explained that Devane followed McLamb wherever she went on offense, “If she got away from Hannah, we had Abby Ward and Ashley Hardin ready to pick her up.”
Early in the second half, Ward sent a pass into the box to Suggs who fired in her second goal from about 12 yards out to stretch the East Bladen lead to 3-0.
With 15:21 left on the clock, lightning stopped play. After a 50-minute delay play resumed. “Play was very physical after the delay,” noted Raynor. “They scored one goal and had a couple of more chances.”
Senior Kathryn Cole was credited with 6 saves in the game for East Bladen. “Kathryn made a couple of saves from point-blank range,” continued Coach Raynor. “She had one big diving save. Our backline did a great job in front of her.”
“This was a big win for us,” said Coach Raynor. “They are a very good team. Once we made the adjustment at halftime, we played pretty well.”
Suggs finished with 2 goals and one assist, while Devane tallied one goal and one assist, and Ward had one assist.
East Bladen will host Clinton in another key league showdown Friday at 6 p.m.
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