03/29/2024
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ELIZABETHTOWN – Senior Maya McDonald poured in a ‘Hat Trick’ plus one of 4 goals Tuesday night as East Bladen rolled to a 9-0 Southeastern Athletic Conference girls soccer victory over Red Springs that was halted by the mercy rule 34 seconds into the 2nd half.

McDonald opened the scoring in the 7th minute with an unassisted goal. A minute later McDonald sent a pass to freshman Iveonna “NeNe” Ward who delivered the 2nd goal of the night. In the 12th minute, Ward struck again converting an assist from junior Acee Campbell into a goal and a 3-0 lead.

Two minutes later freshman Jackie Medina-Leal was on the receiving end of another McDonald assist. Medina-Leal banged in the goal for a 4-0 lead. Nine minutes later McDonald attacked the goal for her 2nd goal of the evening. McDonald nailed the ‘Hat Trick’ goal off of a feed from sophomore Heidi Rebollar in the 29th minute.

Rebollar drilled in a penalty kick in the 31st minute to pad the lead to 7-0. Five minutes later Rebollar notched her 2nd assist of the game with a feed to McDonald who chalked up her 4th goal of the game. Rebollar fired in her 2nd goal that was the game-ending goal 34 seconds after halftime.

McDonald finished with 4 goals and 2 assists. Ward and Rebollar scored 2 goals each, and Rebollar recorded 2 assists in the game. Medina-Leal scored a goal, and Acee Campbell delivered an assist. East Bladen outshot Red Springs 16-1 in the game.

It was the first game for the Lady Eagle varsity since a 3-1 win over Durham School of the Arts 15 days ago. “Great performance for the girls,” said East Bladen Coach Jay Raynor. “Having not played in a good amount of time, I thought we did well. We were aggressive and pressured from the opening whistle. Our midfield was dominant.”

Raynor continued, “We scored 9 goals on 16 shots. I thought we were efficient on our attack. The girls work hard and were unselfish. This is a good group who enjoy playing with and for each other. I thought we were too unselfish at times but it’s good to see each one of the girls wanting to get their peers involved.

“A huge aspect was our bench,” noted Raynor. “Our girls on the bench brought a lot of energy to the game. They were a major factor in our play today. We played well but need to continue to improve on our set pieces and corner kicks. Communication was improved but is still an area that must also improve.”

East Bladen improved to 3-0 in SAC-7 play and 6-0 overall and will travel to play Heide Trask Thursday at 5 p.m.

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