Golden Falcons, Saints battle to 3-3 draw

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 21, 2014 1:48 PM

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DUDLEY -- The absence of an all-conference goal scorer weakens any team, but neither Charles B. Aycock nor Southern Wayne refused to quit Thursday evening.

In fact, the county rivals couldn't decide a winner after 100 heart-stopping and gut-wrenching minutes on the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex pitch.

Goalie Macie Weeks thwarted a penalty kick in overtime and recorded a career-high 18 saves between the pipes for the Saints, who earned a 3-3 draw against the Golden Falcons. It was the Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference opener for Southern Wayne.

"A good game, felt like it was a win tonight except for our injury," Southern Wayne head coach Mario Aguilar said. "It was good competition."

Aycock expressed an opposite view.

"A huge disappointment because you come here and expect to win especially with the quality (of players) that we have," first-year Golden Falcons head coach Byron Adkins said. "We're poor right now, no excuse for us."

The Golden Falcons owned advantages in total shots (27-8) and corner kicks (13-3). Senior returning starter Alex Strickland notched a pair of first-half goals and assisted on Ariel Strickland's goal as Aycock built a 3-1 lead at intermission.

The Saints answered four minutes into the second half on Lorena Magias-Gomez's goal that bounced into the net between Aycock keeper Sarina Lancaster and the near post.

"She was in the right spot ... got lucky," a grinning Aguilar said.

The game changed dramatically in the 58th minute.

Strickland and the Saints' Mary Nunez got into a verbal altercation, and each drew a red card. The disqualifications forced each team to play a man down, but it proved more critical for the Golden Falcons, who lost their main offensive weapon.

Down 3-2, Southern Wayne still had its main offensive weapon -- Dixie Ramirez. The returning all-Eastern Carolina Conference performer out-raced three Aycock defenders into the 18-yard box and converted the game-tying goal in the 62nd minute.

"The red card affected us more than it did them," Adkins said.

Ramirez, however, headed toward the bench with a shoulder injury around the seven-minute mark. She did not return, which took away the Saints' ability to score.

Aycock (3-1-1, 0-1-1 ECC) controlled possession during the two 10-minute overtimes. Weeks stopped Anja Kliss' PK barely four minutes into the first OT, and corraled another shot just off her line about 30 seconds later.

Weeks denied the Golden Falcons on back-to-back goal-scoring attempts just 2 1/2 minutes into the second extra session.

"When Dixie went out, it evened things out," Adkins said. "After that, it was very stale on both ends. You miss a penalty kick, and then you're two yards out and kick right at her (Weeks) again. Their goalkeeper played really well for them tonight."