COVINGTON, Ga. — It was all Eastside on Friday within the matchup between the Eagles and the Madison County Raiders at Sharp Stadium.
Each of Eastside’s soccer groups prolonged win streaks with victories in area play.
Joanna Funes netted a brace within the Girl Eagles’ 2-0 victory over the Girl Raiders.
Within the boys recreation, the Eagles performed what head coach Jabari Bennett labeled as the crew’s “greatest performances” of the season on their means toa 5-0 win to maneuver to 10-0 on the season.
Funes delivers once more in Girl Eagles’ win
The Girl Eagles received their third consecutive match on Friday because the crew managed to climb the Area 8-AAAA standings.
After a 8-0 win over Cristo Rey earlier within the week, Friday’s recreation proved to be a lot nearer. Nonetheless, the defensive play from the Girl Eagles prevented Madison County from mounting any assaults throughout 80 minutes.
In what’s proving to be a highly-contested area, head coach Yulisa Vega pressured simply how essential each area recreation would be the remainder of the way in which following the crew’s win on Friday.
“I believe an important factor that we had tonight was simply the starvation to win,” Vega stated. “We knew that this was an enormous recreation for us that determines whether or not or not we make it to the playoffs, as a result of it’s a area recreation that may decide the area rankings. I believe we went in with the mindset of we do not have a selection however to win. We went in decided and pushed and knew the objective from the beginning.”
The sport began off quiet by means of the primary jiffy, however Eastside slowly started to search out their means into scoring alternatives.
On the eight-minute mark of the opening half, Funes acquired the throw in and dribbled previous Madison County captain Ava McClure earlier than depositing the shot into the underside nook of the online for the objective.
Though the Girl Raiders prevented a lot of the scoring from Eastside, Funes’ objective appeared to offer a spark for Eastside.
The Girl Eagles tried a couple of extra photographs within the half from Funes and Katheryn Wilber, however got here away empty-handed.
The 2 groups went into halftime with the Girl Eagles forward 1-0.
When halftime got here to a detailed, it didn’t take lengthy for the Girl Eagles to return on the assault.
Inside the opening two minutes of the second half, Funes discovered her means into the field, however her shot went proper into the fingers of the Girl Raiders keeper.
A couple of minutes later, Funes despatched an excellent go into the field, however a header from the Girl Eagles missed shut over the objective.
It was not till the eight-minute mark of the second half till Madison County managed to get their first scoring probability.
The Girl Raider put collectively a strong run that received them into the field, however the shot was off track and extensive of the objective.
A couple of minutes later, the Girl Raiders had their first shot on the right track courtesy of Ada Peeples, however the shot landed proper within the fingers of the Girl Eagles’ keeper.
These two possibilities appeared to be the one sturdy ones of the day for Madison County as Eastside’s back-half performed stout protection all through.
The heightened defensive play was additionally observed by Vega, too.
“Our protection was actually ready on this recreation,” Vega stated. “We knew what numbers to look out for, we simply needed to shut down each go and each play.”
With solely seven minutes left within the match, Funes scored the objective that seemingly put the sport out of attain.
Funes dribbled into the field and inside 10 yards of the objective earlier than capturing throughout the keeper into the underside proper of the online.
The second objective of the sport from Funes put the Eagles forward within the closing minutes earlier than the crew finally got here away with the 2-0 win.
With the win, the Girl Eagles moved to 6-4 on the yr with a 2-2 file in area play(third place).
Eastside’s boys crew dominates at Sharp
It was a 5-0 win for the Eagles on Friday as Eastside appeared to be in management from the very begin of the motion.
In a recreation that featured Eastside have many photographs on objective whereas the Raiders struggled to have any, it was protected to say head coach Jabari Bennett was happy with the crew’s effort.
“I really feel we dominated the sport very nicely,” Bennett stated. “I might say in my view this was our greatest efficiency. I don’t care in regards to the rating line, it’s about how we transfer the ball round and this must be the most effective efficiency of the season for us.”
The sport noticed a gradual begin by means of the primary jiffy, however the Eagles started to up the strain.
Eastside pushed the primary objective throughout within the opening quarter-hour on a header from Griffin Lane.
Lane was on the receiving finish of a nook earlier than putting his header into the facet of the online previous Madison County’s keeper.
The Eagles mounted a couple of extra scoring possibilities late within the first half however had been unable to get any factors out of it.
Photographs from Hudson Harris, Ben Weaver and Alexis Vieyra had been off the mark.
After a low-scoring first half, the second half was all Eastside.
It didn’t take lengthy for senior Thomas Hill to interrupt the sport open for the Eagles.
Halfway by means of the second half, Harris despatched an excellent cross into the field earlier than Hill scored the objective on one contact with a Madison County defender on him.
With 18 minutes left within the half, Hill did it once more.
Hill had the ball on the fringe of the field earlier than maneuvering round a defender and capturing throughout the keeper for the objective. Hill’s second objective of the match gave the Eagles a 3-0 benefit.
After a recreation that noticed lots of offense from the Eagles, Bennett made positive to reward his defensive unit for making all of it potential.
“Actually, we received greater than I anticipated. I used to be fascinated about two or three, however not 5,”Bennett stated. “I’ve to provide props to my defenders, they’ve been the precise glue to this crew. They’ve finished glorious this season, I couldn’t be extra happy with them. From my attackers, to my midfielders to my defenders, I couldn’t be extra happy with them, critically.”
Even then, the Eagles weren’t finished.
Weaver, who got here wanting a number of headers earlier within the recreation, lastly received one to land because the senior’s header scored from shut vary.
A couple of minutes later, Harris made it a 5-0 lead.
Harris took a lofty shot from outdoors the field that went simply over the attain of the Raiders’ keeper for the objective.
The objective from Harris put the ultimate touches on Eastside’s 5-0 win at dwelling.
The win moved the Eagles to a powerful 10-0 begin with a 4-0 file in area play(first place). With the crew’s rankings and expectations rising, Bennett shared how the crew is staying level-headed and never listening to the “rat poison”.
“The best way we preserve them grounded is that we simply have to preserve working,” Bennett stated. “Actually, we dont carry up the very fact of the place we’re proper now, everybody is aware of, we don’t have to say it on a regular basis. We’re taking it one recreation at a time, we do not wish to get sucked into the poison, as one in all my gamers stated. Trying on the rankings is rat poison, it does nothing for us to have a look at that. I attempt to preserve us humble and grounded and looking out on the subsequent recreation.”
What’s subsequent
Each of Eastside’s groups could have per week off earlier than taking over one other area opponent within the North Oconee Titans on Friday, March 28 at Sharp Stadium.
