DOBSON — In soccer, speed kills.

Wilkes Central got a lesson on the subject Monday night, as the Surry Central Golden Eagles sped to their first Western regional soccer final in its history with a 2-0 victory.

Edwin Alonso gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead 12 minutes into the match, breaking free from a defender and chasing down a pass before he slammed in a nearly uncontested shot to the right of the keeper.

After the match, Surry Central coach Blake Roth said with no mediocre teams left in the final rounds of the playoffs, the team who can make the least mistakes and capitalize when opportunities are presented are the most likely to win.

He said Alonso’s score was a primer on the philosophy.

“The first goal is a classic example, where the defender just got shell-shocked and got turned around and Edwin made him pay the price,” Roth said. “That’s what you’ve got to have. Not make any mistakes and take advantage of the others.”

Alonso’s goal was the only score for nearly the entire match, as Central kept Wilkes out of its half of the field for the majority of the first half, utilizing the advantage in speed to continually win balls and keep Wilkes at bay.

When the Golden Eagles weren’t in their own end, they were counter-attacking, leaning on the speed of Alonso, Antonio Talavera and Bernardo Leandro, who gave Wilkes Central fits the entire match.

Roth said his team focused on making the most of its possessions and having smooth series of touches.

“We knew that if we held on to the ball it was going to be a long night,” Roth said. “If we can put together a string of three or four passes in a row, we can spread the pitch out very well and we can look fast.

“Are we faster than them? I don’t know,” he continued. “A lot of times we looked like it but a lot of heart, a lot of desire were showed tonight.”

After a first half nearly dominated by the Golden Eagles, Wilkes Central came out gunning to open the second half, narrowly missing on several wild chances at goal.

The pace never slowed but the possession evened out as the half moved along and Surry Central again was able to attack and keep the ball in its end.

Wilkes had a string of chances three minutes before stoppage time, but Surry weathered the storm and finally found another counter-attack goal.

Leandro finally got his, winning a ball near the sideline in his own end before streaking to the goal and putting the nail in the coffin with just more than a minute remaining in regulation play.

Afterwards Leandro said the Eagles were pumped up by the win but definitely want more.

“We feel really, really happy, the team has done a lot from the preseason and now we are one of the better teams right now,” he said. “The whole team is really happy with this win. Hopefully we will get to win more.”

Central will next travel to Shelby (21-3) Wednesday for the Western regional finals after the No. 1 seed from the South Mountain Conference defeated Salisbury 1-0.

Roth said while he thinks his team has performed better in Dobson than on the road this season, he hopes the Eagles can draw on early-season experience and a tough regular season schedule to keep its momentum.

“What can I say, we are blessed to play at home for four rounds,” Roth said. “We probably play better at home and there is no secret to that. Now we hope the trips we made over the summer to West Iredell and Hickory and to Mallard Creek help us out.”

Contact Thomas Smith at tsmith@mtairynews.com or 719-1920.