The Eastside Eagles boys soccer team dropped its first match of the season on the road Monday night, falling 3-1 to Rockdale County in non-region action.

Mateus Holanda netted the Eagles’ lone goal in the opening half, while the Bulldogs poured on the scoring in the opening period, scoring all three goals in the first half.

“We had sort of a mix-matched lineup,” Eastside coach Champ Young said. “We weren’t at full strength. But, I don’t see this as a bad loss for us. We thought we were hot stuff and came in a little too confident. I think this game may bring us back down to a normal level.”

The Eagles didn’t allow a goal in the second half, but couldn’t put their offense together, either.

“We responded well in the second half, but mental errors kept us off the scoreboard,” Young said. “We possessed the ball well after halftime, but we couldn’t score. Rockdale is a very athletic team — one of the most athletic teams we’ve faced — and they made us pay for our mental errors.”

Eastside returns to action today at home against Lumpkin County at 6 p.m.

Tigers declawed

The Alcovy Tigers couldn’t keep their weekend momentum going Monday after defeating region foe Morrow last Friday, and Alcovy fell 3-0 at home to Walnut Grove in non-region play.

Alcovy coach Chris Edgar said the Tigers put together one of their most complete games of the season, but offensively, the ball didn’t bounce in their favor.

“We played probably the best we have played all year,” Edgar said. “We did a much better job possessing the ball. We had plenty of chances; we just couldn’t score.”

Edgar praised Walnut Grove for its players' efficiency around the goal, scoring twice on corner kicks.

“Coach Chonko has done a tremendous job with that program,” Edgar said. “We, however, did not do a good job of defending corner kicks. We gave up two goals on those. Story of our season — self-inflicted wounds.”

The Tigers also gave up a score on a penalty kick for the 3-0 final.

In the girls contest, the Lady Tigers dropped a tight 5-4 decision to Walnut Grove, giving up the game-winner with less than three minutes to go in the contest.

Walnut grove struck first mid-way through the opening half, but Alcovy's Sage Fuller tied the contest heading into halftime off a feed from Alex Jordan.

In the second period of play, the Lady Warriors added a pair of scores,  taking a 3-1 advantage, but Fuller scored twice more, earning a hat trick while knotting the game up with 15 minutes left to play. Fuller netted her second goal of the night, bringing Alcovy back to within one of Walnut Grove before scoring again just 15 seconds later after breaking up the Lady Warriors' kickoff.

Walnut Grove surged ahead and took a 4-3 advantage, but Jordan got into the scoring column with a goal, tying the game once again before the Lady Tigers' allowed the game-clinch goal.

"Overall, it was a decent game, but field conditions and serval injuries from last Friday's game at Morrow did not help," Alcovy coach Anna Hebert said. "Katie Barton did a great job filling in at stopper, even though she usually plays striker for us."

Alcovy returns to the pitch tonight on the road in Region 2-AAAAAA action against the Lovejoy Wildcats.