ELIZABETHTOWN — Youth stepped up for the Lady Eagles on Tuesday, as East Bladen whitewashed visiting Northeastern of Elizabeth City in the first round of the state’s Class 2-A East soccer playoffs, 4-0.
The win improved the No. 8 seed Lady Eagles to 18-0 this season and vaulted them into the second round against the winner of the No. 25 seed N.C. School of Science & Math, 7-6, versus No. 9 seed Nash Central, 17-3, match.
A pair of freshmen — Katie Evans and Kenia Medina — combined to score three goals for East Bladen on Tuesday as the Lady Eagles opened 2-0 lead at halftime.
Patience Ward put East Bladen up 1-0 just over 10 minutes into the match off a feed from Evans. Medina booted home her first goal of the match, going solo against the visiting Lady Eagles for a 2-0 lead late in the first half.
Early in the second half, Evans put the Lady Eagles up by a 3-0 margin, taking a pass from Lily Lin and finding the back of the net.
East Bladen kept the pressure on the Northeastern net, but couldn’t sneak a fourth goal in until the final 10 minutes of regulation, when Evans got yanked down in the visitors’ box and Medina fired home the penalty kick for a 4-0 advantage.
The Lady Eagles outshot Northeastern by a whopping 35-0 margin. East Bladen has outscored its opponents this season, 93-5.