ROCKY POINT – Junior Hannah Devane scored 2 goals and assisted on one more to lead East Bladen to a 4-1 Four County Conference girls soccer victory over Heide Trask Wednesday night.
Freshman Patience Ward turned a feed from sophmore Ashley Hardin into the first East Bladen goal 18 seconds into the first half. “Patience dribbled the goalkeeper and tapped the shot in with her left foot,” said East Bladen Coach Jay Raynor.
Moments later Devane fired in the second Lady Eagle goal. Midway the first half Devane sent a pass to senior Erika Morales-Baza who converted the assist into the third East Bladen goal. The score remained 3-0 at halftime.
“After halftime we were able to keep the pressure on their back line that created chance after chance,” continued Coach Raynor. “Hannah scored her second goal of the game as she picked up a loose ball, cut back on a defender and hit a gorgeous shot from 20 yards out. We had numerous other chances to score and applied a lot of pressure on them all night.”
Trask scored their lone goal in the final 10 minutes. “We got caught watching a bit and were also fatigued,” noted Coach Raynor. “We played hard but you could tell that it had been awhile since we had played. Ashley (Hardin) was injured 15 minutes into the game and didn’t play the remainder of the match. When she has gone out during the year it has been difficult for us to keep our dominance in midfield.”
“Today I thought the girls played well and picked up their play in the midfield when Ashley went out,” added Coach Raynor. “Hannah had an awesome game tonight. Lexi (Mendell) as well as Justyna (Gargala) helped Hannah in the midfield and all 3 played large roles in the win tonight.”
“Our backs did a good job of limiting Trask’s chances on goal, said Raynor. “I thought Cassidy (Davis), Maddie (West), and Sarah (Johnson) did an awesome job and made Ting’s (Lin) job in goal tonight easier than what it could have been. Cassidy went down late with a injury but I’m sure she will bounce right back. Ashely tweaked her ankle and hopefully will be back Friday.”
“All and all it was a great game,” concluded Coach Raynor. “We had an excellent day of training yesterday and it carried into the game. Everyone did what was asked of them tonight. We had some girls step up tonight and play some big minutes. Trinity (Carroll) really was impressive. She was called on to play several positions and did so with no issues.”
East Bladen improved to 7-4 in conference play and 12-4 overall.
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