Gators ease past Eagles in OT

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on October 15, 2013 1:49 PM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- Spring Creek erupted for three goals in overtime and rallied for a 4-1 win over Rosewood in Carolina 1-A Conference soccer action on Monday night.

Playing without leading scorer Otto Binar, who was out with a lower leg injury, the Gators struggled to finish plays around the net and found themselves in a dogfight with the Eagles for 80 minutes.

"I don't think we did as good of a job possessing the ball as we did the first time we played Rosewood," Spring Creek head coach Linda Salter said. "This was a much different game, but I'm proud of how my guys battled."

Spring Creek got on the board first when David Vega took a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box and fired a shot into the top right corner of the net.

Rosewood answered early in the second half.

Reed Howell delivered a perfect corner kick into the six-yard box and watched as the ball deflected off a Gator defender and rolled to the foot of Ethan Chapin who finished off the goal.

The score remained 1-1 until the end of regulation.

"I thought for 80 minutes we were equal to the task," Rosewood head coach Eddie Maldonado said. "We had chances to win the game in regulation and they just didn't work out."

Spring Creek (11-2-1 overall, 8-2-0 CC) grabbed control in the first overtime. In the 83rd minute, Ivan Lemus crossed the ball to Brayan Lopez for a redirect that found the net. The Gators iced the game two minutes later when Omar Ponce and Giovani Avila connected on a similar play.

Avila capped the scoring at 4-1 with his second goal of the overtime period, which came off a rebound in the 93rd minute.

"I think the guys finally woke up and realized that we needed this win," Salter said. "If we want to finish second in the conference and stay ahead of Hobbton we had to win tonight."

Spring Creek travels a league-leading James Kenan today, while Rosewood (8-6-1, 4-5-0) plays host to Neuse Charter.