LAKE WACCAMAW – Junior Mya McDonald recorded her second ‘Hat Trick’ of the season Monday as East Bladen’s Lady Eagles improved to 2-0 with a 7-1 non-conference girls’ soccer victory over East Columbus.
“Maya played well and is so good with the ball at her feet,” said East Bladen Coach Jay Raynor. “She left a few goals out there but still had a great performance.”
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Photos by Kenneth Armstrong
Seniors Josephina Torres and Katie Evans fired in 2 goals each for the winners. Senior Kenia Medina and sophomore Acee Campbell were credited with one assist each.
“Josephina looked more comfortable tonight,” noted Raynor. “She brings a lot of energy and hustle. Katie, Acee, and Sara (Gargala) did a great job in midfield for us tonight. Zoe Smith did a phenomenal job in a couple different places for us tonight. She’s adapted well to the high school game. She’s calm under pressure and has a great understanding of the game.”
Torres knocked in the rebound of a shot off the goalkeeper in the 2nd minute to put the Lady Eagles up 1-0. Two minutes later McDonald broke loose and drilled in a goal on a breakaway to pad the lead to 2-0.
Medina sent a pass to Torres who was breaking towards the goal. Torres converted the pass into a goal in the 33rd minute as the lead grew to 3-0. Evans blasted in a free kick from 35 yards out one minute before halftime to push the Lady Eagle lead to 4-0.
East Bladen outshot the Lady Gators 15-1 in the 1st half and 30-3 for the game. “The girls played well and did a great job of handling East Columbus’ athleticism and speed,” stated Raynor. “We talked about bringing a little more energy in the second half and we did that.”
Six minutes after halftime Campbell delivered a pass to McDonald who banged in her 2nd goal. Seventeen seconds later Evans stole the ball pounded a shot past the keeper to grow the lead to 6-0.
East Columbus scored off of an error in the back in the 54th minute. McDonald answered with her 3rd goal in the 60th minute to pad the final margin to 7-1.
“Merritt Martin did a great job of keeping the girls organized in the back,” continued Raynor. “There were some moments when we could’ve broken down but she did an excellent job keeping the game in front of her. Molly Evans was good for us tonight in the back. Made an adjustment to put her in our backline because of her toughness and defensive ability. She can be dangerous for us up top as well but I thought she complimented our backline well and made us strong on all of our lines.”
Raynor added, “It was an improvement from the game last week. The girls are working hard and heading in the right direction. I thought we were doing too much thinking today. It looked like at times we wanted to make the perfect play rather than making a play. We were hesitant at times and their speed as well as athleticism made us pay for it. With that being said, we were still able to get ourselves out of some difficult situations.
“I am proud of the girls,” concluded Raynor. “We wanted to come into tonight and work hard. We wanted to make sure we got everyone on the field. We need to grow and develop. The only way to do that is to get everyone some time on the field. The girls did all I asked of them. Hopefully we will continue to tweak things and be a little better next time out.”
The Lady Eagles, now 2-0, will travel to West Columbus Wednesday for a 4:30 game.
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