East Bladen’s Lady Eagles (13-2) will make the 157-mile trip to Roanoke Rapids Thursday to battle the No. 5 seeded Lady Yellowjackets (15-3) in the 2nd round of the NCHSAA Class 2A Girls Soccer Playoffs. Game time is 6 p.m.
Senior Maya McDonald is a scoring machine for the Lady Eagles having poured in 44 goals and dished out 19 assists. She has recorded 7 ‘Hat Tricks’ of 3 goals or more in 15 games.
Other key contributors for East Bladen include freshman Iveonna “NeNe” Ward who has racked up 15 goals and 7 assists, sophomore Heidi Rebollar has tallied 13 goals and 7 assists and freshman Jackie Medina-Leal has totaled 9 goals and 10 assists.
Sophomore Reese Hester has been credited with 3.1 saves per game for the Lady Eagles.
East Bladen’s 2 losses were both to Southeastern Athletic Conference champion and Eastern No. 1 seed Clinton. Coach Jay Raynor’s Lady Eagles own wins over Eastern No. 8 seed South Columbus, No. 19 seed West Bladen, No. 26 seed Midway and No. 31 seed Heide Trask. In their opening round playoff game they defeated No. 21 seed Graham 3-1.
Roanoke Rapids lost twice to Big East 3A/2A Conference champion and Eastern Class 3A No. 3 seed Southern Nash, but defeated the Lady Firebirds 2-1 in the Big East Conference Tournament. The Lady Yellowjackets split with Class 2A No. 15 seed Nash Central.
Freshman Casey Neal sparks the Roanoke Rapids offense with 23 goals and 9 assists. Senior Cameron Neal has fired in 18 goals and has 6 assists. Sophomore Kamdyn Jean has posted 12 goals and 9 assists, and senior Logan Abram has added 11 goals and 6 assists. Senior Rylie Wade averages 9.4 saves per game.
Roanoke Rapids blanked No. 28 seed Research Triangle 7-0 in their opening round playoff game.
About Author
