Rosewood avenges lone loss in Carolina 1A soccer

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 13, 2015 1:48 PM

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WARSAW -- Rosewood sealed the deal this time.

After squandering a two-goal lead in their previous meeting with James Kenan, the Eagles withstood a physical game and walked away with a 3-1 victory on Monday afternoon.

It was the Tigers' first loss in Carolina 1-A Conference play this season.

"James Kenan has this little 'air' about them is that they're good, so sometimes people are scared to play them," RHS head coach Eddie Maldonado said. "Since we lost to them the first time, that's all we've talked about. This was big for them (our team) to come out and play like they did.

"I'm proud of them."

Rosewood, again, punched in two first-half goals.

The Eagles' first score resulted in a 35-yard kick from Hayden Amodeo that drew Tigers goalie Nelson Martel off his line. Martel played too far up, back pedaled and Amodeo, who said he was crossing the ball to Zack Barnes, watched the ball clang off of the crossbar.

The ball hit Martel in the back of the head and dropped into the net.

Rosewood (10-4-1 overall, 7-1-1 CC) pushed its advantage to 2-0 on one of its patented set pieces. Ethan Chapin had a long throw-in into the 18-yard box and Zack Barnes headed it into the goal.

It was Barnes' 15th goal of the season.

"The first time played them, we had an advantage in the air," Maldonado said.

Kenan changed defensive tactics from that point and prevented the Eagles from executing the play the remainder of the game. The Tigers pulled to within 2-1 at halftime on Andy Martinez's unassisted goal.

Maldonado appeared worried at the break.

Would the Eagles' fold?

Or, with conference title implications the line, would they respond to James Kenan (8-5-0, 8-1-0) in the second half?

"I said 'you've got a decision to make. Either you can come out in the second half and you can play, or we could fall apart like we did the last time," Maldonado said.

The Tigers, as expected, pushed more numbers forward to create attacks and pressure the Eagles' defense. Barnes notched his second goal of the game -- and 10th of the season -- around the 10-minute mark on a scrum inside the 6-yard box.

A Kenan defender attempted to knock the ball away with his hand.

"The ball was kind of bouncing around, there's bodies flying all over and we just got lucky to knock the ball in," Maldonado said.

Barnes' goal prompted Maldonado and assistant coach Daniel Mitchell to make a defensive adjustment. They moved Chapin to the back defensive third and dropped Barnes closer to the midfield.

The Eagles' two best defenders constantly stepped into open lanes to win second balls and clear them, which forced the Tigers to chase the loose balls and try another counter attack.

"We knew they were going to lock stuff down," said Maldonado, whose team won its fourth straight and snapped the Tigers' eight-game win streak.

Play became more physical from that point as the Eagles preserved their two-goal lead and avenge their lone defeat in conference play this season.