ELIZABETHTOWN – Senior Lacey Suggs closed out a remarkable regular season with another 3-goal ‘Hat Trick’ and added 4 assists as her East Bladen Lady Eagles rolled to a 9-1 Four County Conference girls soccer victory over Union Friday night.
Suggs raised her season totals to 37 goals and 24 assists. She now has a whopping total of 98 points for the season.
Coach Jay Raynor’s Lady Eagles posted a 12-2 league record and 18-2 overall mark. East Bladen will receive the league’s Class 2A No. 2 seed in the NCHSAA play-offs.
Junior Justyna Gargala delivered the first East Bladen goal in the game’s second minute off of a feed from freshman Ashley Hardin.
“It was beautiful soccer,” said Coach Raynor. “We got the ball to Ashley on the baseline and she played a 45-degree pass back to Justyna in the middle and she knocked it in.”
Fifteen minutes later junior Trinity Carroll took a feed from Suggs and blasted a 20-yard shot over the Union keeper and into the net for a 2-0 Lady Eagle lead.
The remainder of the half presented numerous scoring opportunities that East Bladen couldn’t capitalize on. “We played really good soccer and moved the ball around,” said Raynor. “We pounded their goalie with shots but couldn’t get them in.”
Senior Abby Ward turned a pair of corner kicks from Suggs into the next two East Bladen goals. “Abby is lethal on corner kicks,” noted Coach Raynor. “Lacey just dumps the ball into the box, and Abby gets it in. One of them was on a header.”
Union converted a penalty kick into a goal, but Suggs answered with a pair of goals for a 6-1 East Bladen lead.
“Lacey just worked the give-and-go with Abby and once with Ashley Hardin,” said Coach Raynor. “You can tell those girls played basketball together. They know each other really well.”
Seven minutes later Ward was hammered in the box, and senior Claire Campbell drilled in the penalty kick for a 7-1 lead.
Two minutes later junior Erika Morales-Baza headed in another Suggs corner kick to grow the lead to 8-1. Suggs turned a feed from junior Maddie West into the final Lady Eagle goal.
Ward totaled 2 goals and an assist. Hardin finished with 2 assists. Campbell, Gargala, Carroll and Morales-Baza scored one goal each, and West had one assist.
“The only shot that they had on goal was the penalty kick, while we had about 30,” added Coach Raynor. “Their goalie had a heck of a game and stopped a lot of shots. We are finally beginning to get healthy and are looking forward to the play-offs.”
Play-off brackets are expected to be finalized by Monday.
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