Warriors dominate Saints on soccer pitch

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on October 1, 2014 1:51 PM

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Eastern Wayne defensive midfielder Ethan Zadrozny is still learning how to set players up with quick passes rather than trying to take on defenders one-on-one.

He's asked his coach, Jorg Wagner, to yell at him now if he ever takes more than three dribbles. Wagner has done a fair bit of yelling at his senior this season.

But not Tuesday night.

Zadrozny played his best game yet in the midfield, delivering quick through balls and long service passes to lead Eastern Wayne past Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A and county rival Southern Wayne, 6-2, at Little Big Horn.

Zadrozny had two goals and two assists for the Warriors, who improved to 6-5-0 overall and 2-0-0 against the 3-A schools -- Southern Wayne and Charles B. Aycock -- in conference play.

"He gets on me if I screw up, which is pretty often," Zadrozny joked. "But I take it as he means it in the right way. I just have to get it out of my head to take so many touches."

The match featured a clash of styles.

Southern Wayne prefers to play with more flair and tries to take on defenders one-on-one. Eastern Wayne plays a tactical game, relying on shape and organization.

Wagner stressed the importance of the back line playing disciplined and as a unit to prevent Southern Wayne striker Peterson Michel from getting in open space and scoring goals. The Warriors also had play organized and push forward to put pressure on the Saints' back line led by Obens Tilus.

"We knew we had to push back and attack (Michel) as a unit three-on-one because if he takes us one-on-one that's going to be hard to stop," Wagner said. "I thought they did a tremendous job of that."

After conceding a goal early, the Warriors responded in a way Wagner hasn't seen from his team this year, scoring four straight goals. It's usually been the other way around this season.

Alex Acosta also added two goals for Eastern Wayne. Victor Kokiko and Junior Flores each added a goal. Christian Anderson had two assists.

Since their 7-0-1 start, the Saints have dropped four consecutive games. Coach Mario Aguilar has struggled to find 11 guys who mesh well on the pitch in recent weeks and admits he needs to go back to the drawing board.

"If they're not going to learn the easy way, they're going to learn the hard way," Aguilar said. "I'm going to try some new guys and we're going to figure out how to fix this."

Adnan Reyes and Axel Ruiz scored unassisted goals for the Saints.

Ryan Flemming made five saves in goal. The Saints tried three keepers in goal -- including Michel -- and none of them had more than three saves. Michel was benched in the second half for a violation of team rules.