Warriors fend off Bruins

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on March 19, 2008 1:49 PM

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Eastern Wayne used a stellar first-half effort and some good luck to defeat Wilson Beddingfield 4-3 at Little Big Horn on Tuesday evening.

The Warriors' strategy became obvious early in the opening half, with speedster Brandi Dean controlling several balls in the offensive end off long passes. The sophomore forward netted the game's first goal just six minutes in on a deep run. Midfielder Kelsey Griffith notched the assist.

Fourteen minutes later Eastern Wayne (3-3 overall, 2-1 ECC) grabbed its second goal.Mary Catherine Hollowell drove a long shot into the 18-yard box that looped over the head of the Bruin keeper.

The Warrior onslaught continued into the latter minutes of the first half.

Brittany Spence scored a goal on a long shot from the center of the field, the ball escaped into the net through the hands of the Beddingfield goalie.

"Not all of the goals have to be highlight reel shots," Warrior coach Jorg Wagner said. "We will certainly take scores any way we can get them."

Dean tacked on Eastern Wayne's fourth goal just before halftime.

"The more space that Brandi has, the better that is for our attack," Wagner said. "It was big for us to get those early goals."

From all indications, the Warriors looked to be on their way to a lopsided win.

The Bruins had other ideas.

Moving a defender into the midfield allowed the Bruin attack to push forward, and results showed immediately. Four minutes into the second half, Corina Botello scored her first goal of the season, and just a few moments later Ashley Batchelor added a goal off a designed throw-in play.

On their heels for the first time, the Warriors regrouped in front of keeper Danielle Daniel. The Bruins (3-4-1, 2-1) continued to control possession in the Eastern Wayne defensive end.

Beddingfield's pressure paid off with 16 minutes left in the game. Jaime DeRatt collected a loose ball and drove it into the back of the Eastern Wayne net, closing the score to 4-3.

"In the second half, we moved some players around and told the girls to be more aggressive going for loose balls," Bruin head coach Glenn Griffin said. "We almost looked like a genius'."

Eastern Wayne stopped the comeback attempt in the final 10 minutes. The Warriors knocked several balls out of bounds and created a choppy pace.

"Beddingfield came out and moved the ball better in the second half, and we had some young players that didn't know when to come up and when to step back and contain," Wagner said. "We drill it in practice, but we knew it would be a good game tonight either way."

Eastern Wayne travels to Charles B. Aycock on Thursday.