The Wakefield girls soccer team has jumped out to a 6-0 record, and coach Derek Williams expects the Wolverines to battle against nationally ranked Leesville Road next Wednesday in their Cap Eight 4-A league game.
Wakefield showed its mettle early in the season when it knocked off tradition-rich Broughton 2-0.
The Wolverines have added league wins over Sanderson, 2-0, and Millbrook, 3-1.
Williams is in his first season as a head coach, but he expected the team to be strong. The Wolverines graduated only two players off last year's club, which reached the second round of the playoffs.
"I expected us to be good, but I don't know if anybody else did," said Williams, a 2004 graduate of Wakefield. "We put the expectation on ourselves to do what we needed to do to become a great team."
The Wolverines play rival Wake Forest-Rolesville before facing the Pride in the midweek game.
Williams believes his team can compete with the Pride, which is currently No. 8 in the country in the ESPN/Rise rankings.
"I hope we have two great games with them during the regular season and that we play them in the finals of the conference tournament," Williams said.
Junior keeper Madison Shaw leads a Wakefield defense that has allowed only two goals. Nikki Burns leads the scoring with seven goals.
Green Hope gets ranking: Green Hope, which has opened its season with six straight girls soccer shutouts, is No. 12 in the country in the ESPN/Rise Fab 50. The Falcons are at home against Apex (5-0-1) on Monday.
Duke recruit honored: Duke women's basketball recruit Elizabeth Williams of Virginia Beach (Va.) Princess Anne High has been named the 2011 Morgan Wootten player of the year.
She scored more than 1,628 points and had 1,205 rebounds during her career. She led Princess Anne to back-to-back Virginia 3-A state titles.
Cierra Burdick of Charlotte Butler was one of three finalists for the award.
Softball standout: Brittany Belscher of Leesville Road ranks among the area's top performers in five softball categories.
Before Friday's game at Broughton, Belscher was second in the area in pitching wins (five), sixth in strikeouts (30), first in triples (3), second in RBIs (12) and tied for 10th with one home run.
Apex lacrosse: The Apex girls lacrosse team has four of the top 10 goal-scorers in the area: Katie Burnet (20), Cawley Bromley (17), Katie Wagner (17) and Kristi Marks (13). The 6-0 Cougars are averaging 16.3 goals per game.
All-Star game: Princeton's Ben Jacobs, who led the Triangle in scoring and rebounding this year, is on the North Carolina squad in Saturday's 14th annual Carolinas Basketball Classic at Myrtle Beach, S.C. The game matches all-star teams from North Carolina and South Carolina.
Jacobs, a UNC Pembroke commitment, averaged 27 points and 14.2 rebounds.
The North Carolina team also features Wilmington Hoggard point guard Stillman White, who has been receiving recruiting attention from North Carolina.
The boys game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. at Socastee High.
The girls all-star game is scheduled for 6:30. The North Carolina girls squad is coached by Northern Durham's Pam Adams, and the team includes the Knights' Jenna Frush and Ashante Richard.
District players: Donald Johnson of Garner and Thomas Sumpter of Durham Jordan are among the 12 district boys players of the year in North Carolina picked by the N.C. Basketball Coaches Association.
Green Hope's Kristen Gaffney, South Central Pitt's Danielle Butts, Western Harnett's Ariel Bursey and Granville Central's Kelva Atkins were among the girls district players of the year.
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