Goals come in a flurry as Clayton soccer tops East Wake
An eight-minute offensive flurry in the first half carried Clayton to a 4-1 boys soccer victory over East Wake on Wednesday in the Greater Neuse River 4A Conference opener for both teams.
After nearly 15 minutes of scoreless soccer, Clayton’s offense suddenly clicked.
With 25:10 left in the half, Clayton sophomore Logan Gardner scored on his own rebound, slamming the ball into the left corner to give the Comets (4-5, 1-0 GNRC) the lead for good.
Forty seconds later, freshman Ryan Doyle scored headed the ball in on as assist from Jorge Alsonso.
“We got into a kickball game in the beginning,” Clayton coach John Asmussen said. “They had us pinned down for a while. We had to keep the ball on the ground. Playing the ball in the air was not going to be efficient. Then we were able to string a couple of passes together and exploit some space on the back line.
“We had some good quality finishes, especially that second one. That was a clinical finish there.”
Alonso made it 3-0 in the 23rd minute, taking a through ball from Dylan Sherron and beating the East Wake keeper one-on-one.
“We pushed forward on both of their (first two) goals and they had counters and they buried it,” East Wake coach Jonathan Hasbrouck said. “It dramatically changed the game and the way we had to approach it. They got the third one and we got one before half.”
East Wake (3-6, 0-1) got its goal when Vicente Gallardo scored on a header on an assist from Jhoan Mejia in the 26th minute.
Clayton got the final goal on a header from Sherron assisted by Gardner.
TURNING POINT
The two-goal flurry by the Comets in 40 seconds, a lightning-quick turnaround after a sluggish beginning, sent them on the way to the victory.
THEY SAID IT
“We are the hunted in this conference because we won it last year.” Asmussen said.” We are very young. We graduated 11 seniors last year. Only return two significant starters from that team. But we can play. It will be seen if we can play with some of the top teams (in the conference).”
UNSUNG HERO
“It really goes to the center backs in this game because 22 (Gallardo) is a heck of a player,” Asmussen said. “Tyler Duncan and Dennis Andino did a great job with him.”
Andino knew he had a tough job trying to contain Gallardo.
“He looked liked their target player up top, their go-to player,” Andino said. “I had to shut him down. It feels good to hold him to only one goal. I wanted to stay on his back and not let him turn and also deny the ball to him.”
THE SPARKPLUG
Clayton’s Doyle, who scored his first varsity goal.
“He was a sparkplug for us in the first half,” Asmussen said.
This story was originally published September 8, 2016 at 10:38 AM with the headline "Goals come in a flurry as Clayton soccer tops East Wake."