Jeff Linville/The News

Maddie White was one of four Golden Eagles honored on Senior Night. She nearly scored the first goal of the game, but the ball deflected off the right pole.

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DOBSON — The Lady Eagles had two great chances fall through in the first half, but continued to fight for a 2-0 win over South Stokes on Senior Night.

When these two teams met a month ago, the Lady Sauras won 4-0 at home, part of a skid where Surry Central dropped four of five matches.

Coach Matt Richardson said his team has improved a lot since then, and the record shows the Eagles won seven of their last eight regular season games, with a close 3-2 loss to top-seeded West Stokes the only blemish.

The team honored its four seniors: Maddie White, Kolina Marsh and Reba Stanley started in the midfield positions, while Kayla Feeney played defender.

White nearly scored the first goal of the game when she had the keeper out of position and hit a shot toward the right side. However, the ball deflected off the right post.

Haylee Harrison had a similar shot bounce off the post in the first half, and the teams went into halftime in a scoreless tie.

Those two misses didn’t discourage the girls, Richardson noted. In fact, the plays gave the girls confidence they could have success and made them hungry for goals, he said.

That hunger and confidence was evident to start the second half, he said, as the team went right down the field and scored in the first minute.

Sarah Bruce flicked the ball to the middle to Harrison. The keeper came out to disrupt the play, but Harrison touched the ball to the outside and got around the defender for an open-goal score.

Then in the 65th minute, Harrison got her second goal on a one-on-one, beating the keeper with a low, hard shot.

The ball was very wet and hard to control for both keepers, he said. Chandler Musson did a good job of maintaining control on one scoring opportunity for South Stokes, he noted.

The ball was struck hard and low, skidding on the wet grass, but she saved it and held on.

On another play, the Sauras’ attacker split two defenders and had a good look at the goal, but Chandler came out and made a deflection, he said.

She made a good play that saved the team from a defensive breakdown, he said.

The two teams were warming up when the skies opened, the coach said. Not only was there plenty of rain, quarter-sized hail also fell on the field.

It didn’t stop raining until 6:25 p.m., then Richardson and three other coaches went to work on removing water from the field so that the game could go on.

Feeney had a great game on defense, he said of the senior. The defense in general was great in positioning, he noted.

These seniors deserved a good win against a quality team that beat us over at their place, he said.

Surry Central improved to 15-7 overall, 6-5 for the conference. The Eagles finish the regular season at East Surry on Thursday.

Reach Jeff Linville at jlinville@heartlandpublications.com or at 719-1920.