Golden Falcons turn back Greene Central

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on August 20, 2008 1:46 PM

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SNOW HILL -- Two teams with vastly different expectations in 2008 met on the soccer pitch Tuesday when state-ranked Charles B. Aycock traveled to Greene Central.

The Golden Falcons walked off with a 2-0 season-opening victory.

The Rams took home some new-found confidence.

"I thought we played pretty well, but not our best," said Aycock head coach Kevin Adkins. "Our defense was strong, and we got a good number of shots, we just couldn't get the ball into the net."

The Golden Falcons fired 33 total shots on the night compared to five for the Rams.

"I think the first-game jitters combined with the expectations of playing Wilson Fike tomorrow, might have caught up with us," said Adkins. "We played a little too greedy in the offensive end when one extra pass could have led to some open shots."

The Golden Falcons withstood the aggressive Ram attack in the game's opening minutes, before shifting the momentum into their own offensive zone.

Cavin Forrest earned the visitors' best scoring chance in the opening minutes when he drew a free kick just outside the box. To the dismay of the Aycock bench, the ball sailed just inches over the top right corner of the net.

Forward William Tamuar finally got the Falcons on the scoreboard in the 38th minute. The junior headed a pass from teammate Alex Rodriguez past the diving keeper.

Despite allowing the late goal, Ram keeper Julio Arias was undoubtedly the team's star of the first half.

"That kid played absolutely out of his tree," said Adkins. "He played very, very well and made some saves that should have been in the net."

The second half brought more Aycock shots and more Arias saves as the Golden Falcons controlled the tempo.

"We started to get a little tired, especially on defense," said Greene Central head coach Jose Garcia. "With only 13 players suited up you don't have a lot of options."

In the 21st minute, Rodriguez added an insurance goal for CBA when his corner kick glanced off a defender and into the net. Ahead 2-0, the Golden Falcons were content to play the game's final stages in the midfield and run time off the clock.

Despite the hard-fought loss, Garcia was pleased with his team's effort. Arias finished with 16 saves.

"He is a kid that came out of nowhere last year," said Garcia. "And tonight he certainly played at his best. We have only been practicing for a week, so to come out and play like we did was a good way to start.

"C.B. Aycock is a good team, and they have a lot of guys back from last season so we knew that they would be tough."

The Golden Falcons (1-0 overall) travel to Fike today, while the Rams (0-1) face South Lenoir in the opening round of the Parrott Invitational.