Late-season split

Rams fall to Croatan for 2nd time, then head to playoffs

Losing the last game of the regular season before heading into the playoffs is something teams don’t want to do. Havelock’s girls soccer team fell victim to excellent play from Jessica Cartwright of Croatan in a 5-0 loss Thursday night. Cartwright scored four of the five goals and assisted on the other as she controlled mid-field.

“It was unreal,” said Croatan coach Don Bennett. “She’s done that once or twice this year. What can you say about it? It’s nice to see a sophomore do that.”

But it wasn’t nice for the Rams (8-8-1), who were slated to kick off the first round of the playoffs at Wilmington Hoggard last night after press time.

Thursday’s game was not pretty on a hot day when both teams looked sluggish in their play. The Cougars (10-7-2) jumped on the Rams early, scoring the first goal in the seventh minute of play. Cartwright changed the field to a wide-open Amanda Blackstock, who promptly settled the ball and shot to the middle of the goal. The shot found Havelock goalkeeper Sarah Tadlock out of position and hit the back of the net.

Croatan scored again in the 29th minute when Cartwright lobbed the ball over Tadlock’s head for the easy score.

Cartwright’s next three goals came in the second half, the first only 30 seconds in. The ball found the net when Cartwright took a one-touch shot off a poor Havelock clearance and found the upper left corner.

Havelock coach Donnie Crumbacker noted of the third goal, “I don’t worry about one or two goals, but that third one — when they scored it you could see some of them give up.”

“I didn’t think it would come that quick," Bennett said of the score. "I think it probably took a lot of wind out of [Havelock].”

Four minutes later Cartwright scored again off a Rachel Earp corner as she headed the ball over Tadlock’s head.

The final goal came in the 67th minute when Cartwright lobbed the ball over Tadlock from 30 yards out.

Havelock’s best scoring chance came in the second half in the 51st minute when Natalie John forced a diving save from Jessica Kildow on a shot from outside the box. In the game the Rams only managed five shots while Croatan ripped nine.

Havelock had problems trying to generate an offensive attack throughout the entire game.

The Rams also suffered a blow when Katie Stipanovich was hurt with 11 minutes remaining in the game. Stipanovich was called for committing a foul in Croatan’s box and when she and the Cougars player went down was kicked in the face, breaking her nose.

“I think it’s a wake up call. I look at it positively,” Crumbacker said of the loss. “They need to look at it as a wake-up call and learn how to play more as a team rather than individuals.”

HART'S HAT TRICK LEADS TO ROMP OVER GREENVILLE CONLEY

BY DAVID HALL

This one was easy.

Havelock’s girls soccer team, behind a seven-goal outburst from three players, rolled to a ho-hum 9-0 win over winless Greenville Conley in the Big East 4-A Conference finale for both teams last Wednesday at Rams Stadium.

Senior Christina Hart tallied a hat trick for the Rams, who with the win clinched third place and a trip to the state playoffs. They were scheduled to travel to Wilmington Hoggard for Round 1 last night after press time.

“I think it helps to let them know that if they execute what they’re taught, it does build their confidence,” Havelock coach Donnie Crumbacker said of the win.

The Rams, who with a loss to Croatan Thursday finished the season at 8-8-1 overall and 6-3-1 in the Big East, displayed utter dominance in every phase of the game against Conley, which finished 0-10 in the Big East. Vikings coach Karen Powell wasn’t sure how many games her team had played overall, only that they hadn’t won any of them.

Havelock outshot the Vikings 34-3. Conley didn’t control the ball in the Havelock third of the field until the 18th minute, and the Vikings managed to push forward just twice more for the rest of the game.

Hart swiped a short clearing pass from a Conley defender and scored in the 13th minute, and Havelock’s Katie Stipanovich did the same six minutes later. By the time Hart dribbled through three defenders and fired a bullet past Vikings goalkeeper Margot Cozy to give the Rams a 3-0 lead in the 26th minute, the rout was on.

Havelock sophomore Laine Orabona would add a final first-half goal off a Stipanovich corner kick to give the Rams a 4-0 halftime cushion.

Stipanovich scored her second goal 11 minutes into the second half on a deflection off of Cozy, and Hart completed her hat trick 12 minutes later on a breakaway run in which she beat back-up keeper Kelli Fogt.

The Rams’ Heather Langley scored twice and Jessica Holder scored once in the final six minutes.

Powell, who spent much of the game berating officials for not calling fouls, said her team has been the victim of rough play all season.

“My girls don’t feel safe on a soccer field in our conference,” she said. “This has been an ongoing problem all year. I don’t know if these referees are told to not throw yellow cards, but they are getting clobbered out there. It’s all they can do to keep from getting hurt.”

The Rams were called for three fouls in the match, and no yellow cards were issued.