TABOR CITY – Freshman Katie Evans scored 2 goals Tuesday night to lead short-handed East Bladen to a 4-0 Three Rivers Conference girls soccer victory over South Columbus.
The Lady Eagles improved to 9-0 in league play and 11-0 overall despite missing senior Hannah Devane and sophmore Patience Ward due to sickness and losing junior Ashley Hardin to an injury early in the game.
“I’m not so sure how many teams would respond when you tell them that their top 3 goal scorers would not play and they would lose their 4th (Katie Evans) for crucial minutes in the first half,” said East Bladen Coach Jay Raynor. “These girls worked extremely hard and showed everyone tonight what they are all about. No one panicked and everyone did their job!”
“This was a special moment. – a stressful one as a coach but I believe in my girls and they believe in me,” continued Raynor. “They stuck to the system and played just like normal.”
Evans knocked in the rebound from a Hardin shot just 1:26 into the game for a 1-0 East Bladen lead.
Sophmore Cybil Cambell took a feed from Evans and fired it in over the keeper 20 minutes into the game.
Two minutes into the second half freshman Kenia Medina took a pass and beat 3 defenders to bang in the third East Bladen goal. A minute later Evans found the back of the net with her second goal of the game.
“All my girls played extremely well tonight!” added Raynor. “I’m so proud of them! Very proud of Lily (Lin), Bailey (Davis), Annette (Ventura), and Ashton (Magby). All are keys pieces within our team but tonight they were forced to play many more minutes than usual. The pressure was on them for sure and they played extremely well.”
“I also commend Kenia (Medina), Katie (Evans), Sara (Gargala), Gracyn (Martin), and Cybil (Campbell),” stated Raynor. “We controlled the game and the midfield and that’s because of the effort of those ladies. The pressure they put on the ball and decisions they made were spot on. We looked good tonight.”
East Bladen outshot South Columbus 21-3. Goalie Ting Lin had no saves on the night. “Her leadership was phenomenal,” noted Coach Raynor. “She had the girls fired up and playing within the system. It was a beautiful thing.”
Gargala sparked the defense with 20 steals. Evans finished with 18 steals, and Martin and Medina totaled 16 steals each. Campbell came up with 15 steals.
East Bladen will host East Columbus Thursday night.
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