ELIZABETHTOWN – The East Bladen Lady Eagles are racing towards the final weeks of the season and they’ve almost locked up a share of the Waccamaw Conference title with one conference match-up remaining. East Bladen dropped nine goals on the Whiteville Wolfpack in both their home-and-away matchup against them to move their conference record to 10-1. A road trip to South Columbus on May 5th will be the Lady Eagles final conference game of the season but they will have two non-conference matches before then. Their recent victories over Whiteville sealed the Lady Eagles sixth win in a row as they moved the overall record to 12-1-1, and they will travel to Hoke County(7-12) for their next game this Monday.
East Bladen will go into their non-conference match-up with 76 goals scored and only 12 goals conceded in 15 games played. They have experienced seniors on their squad in Jackie Medina-Leal and Iveonna “NeNe” Ward, who are capable of changing a match with their goal scoring threat up front. Junior Gabriela Rebollar is also a versatile player for the Lady Eagles with her ability to pick passes from deep positions on the field. East Bladen head coach Jay Raynor can be proud of his defense as well this season as his team has nine shutout victories.
They’ve also haven’t allowed a goal in their last six games en route to their first conference title in four years. The Heide Trask Lady Titans are behind East Bladen in the standings at 8-1 with two games remaining in their final week of the regular season. Heide Trask has a chance to tie for first-place in the Waccamaw Conference if they can seal victories in their last three matches. Pender took a 3-nil defeat to Wallace-Rose Hill before the Spring Break period but they also secured two straight conference victories over West Columbus. Heide Trask is the top scoring team in the Waccamaw Conference with 81 goals this season through 16 games. Sophomore striker Nayeli Sanchez has 34 goals this season to lead the Lady Titans in the scoring department.
East Bladen has earned the top-seed for 1A teams in the Waccamaw with one more conference game in-hand and Heide Trask has secured the top-seed in the conference for 2A teams with just three games to spare. The official seeding for the postseason will be on May 9th and the first round will be on May 13th. Coach Jay Raynor and his Lady Eagles are currently fifth in the RPI-rankings for the 1A East Region. Eno River Academy and Voyager Acadamy are vying for the top-seed in the 1A East Region according to RPI-rankings.
Heide Trask is currently tenth in the 2A East RPI-rankings and undefeated Franklin Academy is ranked in the top spot at one. East Bladen is slated to play against Midway this Wednesday at home to finish out their week. The Midway Lady Raiders have an overall record of 5-9 and they are second-place in the SAC 6 standings with a 3-3 record.
Midway will clash with St. Pauls in an away match before traveling to Elizabethtown in order to take on the Lady Eagles a day later. The Lady Raiders have scored 16 goals and they’ve allowed 31 goals in 14 games this season. East Bladen will hope to get a result against their next two opponents to keep winning momentum going into their final week of the regular-season.