WHITEVILLE – East Bladen’s Lady Eagles rallied from an early deficit and staked their claim to the Three Rivers Conference girls’ soccer championship with a 5-1 victory over Whiteville Wednesday night.
Coach Jay Raynor’s Lady Eagles improved to 5-0 in the TRC and 11-0 overall and have only a single conference game at rival West Bladen next Wednesday remaining on their schedule. Whiteville dropped to 3-1 in league play and 6-3 overall.
Whiteville took a 1-0 lead in the 4th minute of play. “Their midfielder hit a rocket from over 20 yards out that wasn’t being stopped by anyone,” said Raynor. “Whiteville was much improved from the first time we matched up. and they controlled the first 10 minutes. They had some nice combination plays and we couldn’t get the pressure off of our backline.”
“I thought we responded well and took away any chance of them building momentum,” stated Raynor. “We were going with the wind which helped us keep the game in their half. We had a lot of looks but couldn’t find the back of the net.”
Raynor continued, “Cydney (Campbell) addressed the team at the first mask break and summed it up perfectly, ‘We’re doing too much. Play simple.’ She was right and couldn’t have said it better myself. We were holding the ball up and trying to make the perfect play or pass rather than putting them on their heels with dangerous balls and fast play.”
The Lady Eagles finally broke the scoring ice in the 27th minute as junior Maya McDonald banged in the tying goal. “There were several chances that we could’ve gone up a goal in the final 15 minutes of the half, but couldn’t finish or make that final pass,” noted Raynor.
East Bladen came out firing after halftime. Sophomore Acee Campbell fired in the go-ahead goal in the 42nd minute, and a minute later senior Joesphina Torres knocked in a rebound for a 3-1 Lady Eagle lead. “That was the blow that took the wind out of their sails,” stated Raynor. “To score 2 goals in close succession to make it 3-1 then scoring again 5 minutes later turned the game in our favor.
“Joesphina ‘BB’ is a hustler and has a knack for being in the right positions to score,” said Raynor. “BB goes a great job of seeing the shot and anticipating where it might come if it’s saved or blocked. She did just that and slid in to score a rebound inside the six yard box. Proud of her and that energy she brings. It’s starting to click with her and she looks comfortable in her position within our system.”
Acee Campbell’s 2nd goal came in the 50th minute and boosted the East lead to 4-1. “Acee and Maya worked a beautiful combination play to get Acee the goal,” said Raynor. “Acee had an unbelievable night. Doc (Ray Cross) and I have been waiting for her to have a break out performance. We had no idea it would be tonight but glad it was. Acee and Cydney are dangerous for us on the wings but at times are both a little too unselfish or not as aggressive as they could be. Tonight was a different story. Acee played fearless and extremely aggressive making plays to cut girls up as well as making penetrating passes to get Maya and BB in behind their backline. Acee is tough and has a great understanding of the game. Acee looked comfortable and she was balling tonight.”
In the 73rd minute, Acee Campbell returned the favor with a pass that set up McDonald for her 2nd goal of the night and a 5-1 East lead. “They did a good job of marking Maya,” noted Raynor. “She took a beating back there but she kept her composure and kept playing. Proud of the link up play that she and the girls around her are doing. We moved the ball and I thought looked really good at times.”
The Lady Eagles outshot Whiteville 10-5 in the 1st half and 21-10 for the game. Senior goalie Lily Lin was credited with 3 saves for East Bladen.
“Merritt (Martin), Zoe (Smith), and Lily had great performances tonight especially during the second half,” said Raynor. “We did keep the game in control for the most part but they had to deal with the wind as well as some dangerous runs in the second half. Merritt does a great job of communicating with her backs and keeping the game in front of them.”
Raynor continued, “We limited their runs to goal and behind us. The times they did make those runs, Merritt as well as Molly (Evans) shut them down before they could develop. Molly had an unbelievable game. She was anticipating and jumping passes as well as making aggressive plays on the ball. She held their top scorer to no goals and wasn’t going to let her get by. Molly competes hard and to see her bring it tonight says a lot.
“Katie (Evans) and Sara (Gargala) did what they always do,” stated Raynor. “They worked and owned the midfield. Sara was determined and defended like no other tonight. When we were sluggish to begin with, Sara was running back and shutting down their attacks. I thought she did an amazing job using her body to get inside the other players when challenging for a ball. Sara and Katie have been the difference makers in every game we have played. They have controlled the midfield and that’s how you win games.”
Raynor added, “Katie really got going in the second half. We wanted to force Whiteville to sit deeper to open up space in the midfield. We were going against the wind and it was important to get them to sit back as much as possible. We slid Maya high up top which naturally forced them to drop back. We wanted Katie to send driven balls at their backs and force them to make plays. Those first 3 goals in the second half were because she did just that. Katie played beautiful driven balls at their backs. Whiteville had issues dealing with driven balls. Maya several times was able to pick up the miss played ball and get behind their backs.
“Whiteville had some looks late but nothing that was dangerous,” concluded Raynor. “Our backline as well as Reese (Hester), Sara, and Katie handled the last 15 minutes extremely well. The game seemed to stay on our half for a good amount of those last 15 minutes but those three did a tremendous job of getting the balls forward and cleared out of harms way. The girls were resilient and showed a lot of determination tonight.”
Raynor added, “Playing at Whiteville is tough. To go down a goal 4 minutes in makes it even more difficult. Our girls handled that adversity and just dealt with it. They played hard and played hard for each other.”
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