Camden, Northeastern play to 1-1 tie

By Thom Chalfan
The Daily Advance

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Some soccer teams are not very pleased to come away with a 1-1 tie.

That wasn’t the case with either the Camden Bruins or Northeastern Eagles after their 1-1 non-conference draw on Wednesday night at Northeastern High School.

“It was just a great game,” Northeastern coach Waylon Joyner said. “Camden really played an excellent game and they’ve got a good team. We’re really fortunate to come out of here with a tie.”

Camden struck early. After withstanding a quick shot by Northeastern’s Brett Heyder at the beginning of the game, the Bruins went on the offensive. Three minutes in, Camden’s Glennon Watts just missed on a shot off the top of the goal.

Three minutes later, Jake Nelson tapped a pass to Watts, who took a straight-on shot at goal and gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

“Glennon did a real good job,” Leslie said. “One of the things we try to do is flip him up to the front and put pressure on. Especially when we have corner kicks and we go with the twin towers. We only have two guys over 6-foot, so I have to use them to the best advantage that I can.”

From that point, the Northeastern defense solidified, allowing eight more shots, but no goals.

Camden, meanwhile, focused its defensive attention on Heyder. Heyder, who scored a pair of goals in the Eagles’ 3-1 win last week and three goals in Northeastern’s 4-1 win over South Brunswick on Saturday, continually had two or more defenders at his side.

“We knew he would be their go-to man,” Bruins coach Chuck Leslie said. “We knew if we neutralized his opportunities, that would neutralize their scoring opportunities.”

“He had two or three people hanging on him all the time,” Joyner said. “I tried moving him back to the midfield and putting somebody up top at the striker position, hoping that we could get a ball up there to them. That didn’t work, so I finally put Brett at the top and told him, 'you’re just going to have to play with people hanging on you.’ And he did.”

Eventually, Heyder broke through, going on a 25-yard run through three Camden defenders with the equalizing goal in the 74th minute.

Though the Bruins gave up the tying goal late, Leslie was pleased to see the improvement in his team.

“They came together tonight,” Leslie said. “I saw moments that we played very well as a team and I saw moments when Northeastern executed very well and they frustrated us. It was a good balance throughout the game. We were just fortunate to walk away with a 1-1 game.

Volleyball Edenton 3, Columbia 0

The Lady Aces’ solid service game propelled them to a 25-14, 25-22, 25-12 win over Columbia on Tuesday.

Brittani Rountree paced Edenton with 12 points. Kelli Patrick had seven points and She’ Taylor added six.

“Our service was the difference in the match,” Edenton coach Rock Hudnall stated. “We played solid fundamental volleyball, but we seemed to be lacking some enthusiasm. ... I like the way we’re playing so far, but we still have some work to do to match the top teams in our conference.”

Gerrisha Moore led the way at the net with 11 kills. Patrick had nine kills and Taylor added nine assists.

Edenton (3-0) plays host to Gates today

TENNIS Edenton 9, Currituck 0

The Lady Aces continued to impress as they swept the Lady Knights at Currituck on Tuesday.

Elizabeth Leary led Edenton with a 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 1 singles over Jessica Meidinger. Also winning singles matches were Caroline Small, Alex Brusko, Katherine Elliott, Meredith Laverty, and Isabel Boehling.

“Currituck put up a good fight, particularly down the line in doubles.” Edenton coach Allan Hornthal stated. “I am always impressed with Jessica Meidinger, who played Elizabeth Leary tougher than the score indicates. She is obviously not 100 percent from her knee surgery, but gave it her best shot.”

Currituck’s highlights came at No. 3 doubles, where Kristina Key and Mercedez Rouse played well in a 10-8 loss to Gibson Parrish and Rachel McCarthy, and at No. 2 doubles as Chalssie Robinson and Christina Norton fell to Laverty and Boehling 10-5.