Rocky Mount girls claim first conference title since 2012

Rocky Mount High’s Carson Browder, left, celebrates with Erin Cooke after scoring a goal Thursday during the Big East Conference Tournament championship game against Wilson Hunt at Rocky Mount High School.
©TELEGRAM PHOTO / ALAN CAMPBELL

Rocky Mount High’s Carson Browder, center, is struck by two Wilson Hunt defenders while moving the ball upfield Thursday during the Big East Conference Tournament championship game at Rocky Mount High School.
©TELEGRAM PHOTO / ALAN CAMPBELL

Rocky Mount High’s Barkley Browder, left, celebrates with Sarah Bland, right, and Carson Browder after scoring Thursday during the Big East Conference Tournament championship game against Wilson Hunt at Rocky Mount High School.
©TELEGRAM PHOTO / ALAN CAMPBELL

If Rocky Mount High’s girls’ soccer team was looking for a rousing pre-game speech from its coaching staff Thursday, they would have been disappointed.

Gryphons coach Richard Oxendine spent no more than a minute telling his players to be themselves, and even the more vocal assistant coach, Zacharai Shaikh, didn’t say much along any cliche’ lines of digging deep or leaving it all out there.

There’s no need to overwork the vocal chords with this senior-led Gryphons squad that, after Thursday’s 5-0 victory over Wilson Hunt, claimed the school’s first Big East Conference tournament championship since 2012.

“We just knew we had to play our game and stick to the simple task,” said senior Erin Cooke, who scored a goal in the victory. “We’ve never beat Hunt or (Wilson) Fike like this before. We’re in a good position going forward.”

Other than an uneventful first 20 minutes of action, the Gryphons put into action everything that brought them through the season with a 14-4-1 record and its third victory against rival Wilson Hunt, which along with Wilson Fike, has dominated the league for most of the past decade.

Rocky Mount lost only once to Wilson Fike during the regular season.

The trio of Cooke, Barkley Browder and Sarah Bland each scored goals, and goalkeeper Tyasha Arrington finished with a clean sheet as the Gryphons set up themselves for a few home playoffs matches in the coming weeks.

“We played them twice before, and we knew what to look for,” Arrington said.

A 2-0 halftime lead stretched into more as the Gryphons scored in a variety of ways, either settling the ball in space for a goal (Carson Browder), finishing with a header off a throw-in (Cooke) or utilizing the speed of its fastest player (Bland).

There was little doubt who the best side was, as Rocky Mount claimed its third title under the current format of the Big East.

All they had to do was claim the trophy handed out afterward and gather for a team picture.

This part of the journey is done, and Oxendine probably won’t be changing his approach any time soon for a team that was poised enough to win by a margin greater than it expected.

“They understand that when we play our game, we’re hard to deal with,” Oxendine said. “That’s why we got the result we got. When we get in our attack rhythm, other teams start to panic. It’s almost like once my girls hit their rhythm, they get comfortable and start having fun. It’s obvious they’ve had the talent. Now this year, we’ll see how far they can go.”

By JESSIE H. NUNERY
Sports Editor for Rocky Mount Telegram

Friday, May 5, 2017