SOCCER -- Cleveland @ E. Wayne

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on May 13, 2017 11:37 PM

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No score.

Time ticking away.

Eastern Wayne head girls' soccer coach Scott Summers began to experience his worst fear on a misty Friday evening in New Hope.

Whoever scored first on the rain-slickened pitch would probably walk away victorious.

Cleveland did.

The 24th-seeded Rams converted a "garbage" shot during the 66th minute and escaped 1-0 in round two of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A playoffs.

"I told them at the half we've just got to get that one touch," Summers said. "(We had) 12 chances that we didn't put away today...just didn't go our way on the attacking side today. We had multiple chances."

Three gut-wrenching opportunities occurred midway through the second half.

Yessi Gutierrez gathered a loose ball and lofted a 30-yard shot that barely missed the crossbar. Claire Molloy crossed an untouched ball into the box to Alana Kazar, whose shot suffered the same fate as Gutierrez.

Barely three minutes later, Kazar connected with Molloy on a short-played corner kick. Cleveland keeper Cara Davis snuffed out Molloy's right-footed laser at the near post.

"I was like 'please just give me one' and I was going to bring everybody back (defensively) and we were going to hold on to that 1-0 lead," Summers said.

The teams played between the 18-yard boxes most of the 80-minute affair. Until Morgan Maxwell managed to wrangle a ball from an Eastern Wayne defender.

Warrior goalie Raelynn Clark came off her line to challenge Maxwell and slipped as she made the glove save. The deflection landed at Anna Ford's feet, and the junior knocked it home for her 24th goal of the season.

1-nil Rams.

Summers thought Ford may have been offside.

Eastern Wayne (15-7-1 overall) had one more chance in the 76th minute. Molloy dribbled down the left sideline, took the ball into the box and Davis crept toward the near post.

The Rams' keeper made her fifth save of the day.

"We didn't want to be playing from behind," said Summers, who didn't substitute any players during the game. "I think it was a great fight from both teams. Coming into the game, I didn't feel they were unbeatable. I felt like this was a good game for us to get the win.

"It just didn't fall our way today."

Molloy and Brennan Dove combined for 55 goals and 28 assists. Madison Tallarida provided 10 goals and 12 assists, while Kazar contributed 10 goals and four assists.