Grace Christian Raleigh girls soccer tops Cary Christian to remain unbeaten

No Nyle Nwainokpor, no problem for Grace Christian Raleigh.

With the Eagles’ leading scorer away this week while attending the prestigious West Ham soccer school in London, Micah King and Alexis Lang delivered goals as visiting Grace Christian remained unbeaten with a 2-0 victory over Cary Christian in an Eastern Plains Independent Conference girls soccer game on Thursday.

King scored early in the first half and Lang scored on a penalty kick in the second half as Grace Christian (11-0-1), the reigning N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 2A champions, defeated Cary Christian (12-3) for the second time in as many matches this season.

“The older kids really stepped up to the plate,” said Grace Christian coach Roman Pibl, mentioning in particular Micah, Alexis and his daughter, goalie Alexa Pibl. “It was a great game for us.”

Neither team mustered any significant scoring chances in the early going until Grace Christian struck first, thanks to some determined play by Kelsey Drake.

After receiving the ball near midfield, the junior dribbled through several defenders near the right sideline, drawing some significant contact in the process, before sending a perfect cross to King just inside the box. King then beat a defender before bouncing a shot past Knights goalie Marie Thompson to put Grace Christian up 1-0 with 29 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the first half.

Grace Christian would make it 2-0 midway through the second half. After King was taken down in the box with possession to set up a penalty kick, which Lang easily converted by booming a shot inside the left post.

Cary Christian wasn’t without its chances. Rachel Wiggins hit the crossbar twice with shots, including once from inside the 15 in the first half, and MaKenna Lagaly missed just wide left by a couple of feet from close range late in the first half.

“We had some great looks,” Cary Christian coach Brian Twidt said. “Just a couple of bad touches... and Grace made some adjustments in the second half, it made it a lot tougher for us, they did a good job closing on us when we got down close.”

This story was originally published April 20, 2017 at 10:19 PM with the headline "Grace Christian Raleigh girls soccer tops Cary Christian to remain unbeaten."