There is no secret in sports that some lessons are learned the easy way and others the hard way.
Last season the Greenbrier East boys soccer team learned a valuable lesson.
Unfortunately from the Spartans’ perspective, it was a lesson learned the hard way. Nothing is ever given, it must be earned.
After achieving the top ranking for boys soccer in the state of West Virginia, along with national recognition, Greenbrier East fell in the opening round of sectional play.
Adding salt to the wound was the fact that the loss came on penalty kicks at home to longtime rival, Woodrow Wilson.
“We had a great season last year, but it was a very abrupt end. I think the state and national rankings got to the teenagers and they admitted that,” Greenbrier East head coach Lucas Lemine said. “All the credit goes to Woodrow Wilson. (Head) coach (Steve) Laraba had a game plan that he stuck with, and the kids stuck with it. They played great,” Lemine said.
Now Greenbrier East hopes to put last year behind them and use it as the fire to ignite another successful season.
“One of the first things they said in their player meeting was that they needed to make sure those rankings didn’t mean anything this year,” Lemine said. “These kids have really made the jump from what happened last year.”
The two main contributors lost to graduation are Clay Jackson at center-back and forward Lanty Rose who scored 13 goals in 15 games.
“We have nine out of our 11 starters back. We also have some younger kids that have kinda made a big jump. One of them, Peter Furlong, was just a JV guy last year and kinda short,” Lemine said. “This year he is 6-foot tall. He is probably going to get a chance to play. Even a couple of guys that were on the bench last year have made some big jumps and they will be better contributors this year.”
The Spartans have their leading scorer back in Adam Seams who was named first-team all-state last year.
Lemine is looking for another solid year form his junior midfielder, but he is also looking for more balance from his team.
“I think everybody kinda deferred to Adam last year and that was one of the things they also talked about. Nobody is deferring to Adam this year. We have 15 or 16 capable guys,” Lemine said. “Adam is still the leader of the group and still the best player that we have, but nobody is going to defer to him because we do have talent all over the field this year.”
“That is important because it takes pressure off of Adam. He was the first to admit, he wasn’t the most mature individual last year. When he got a lot of pressure on him, he didn’t feel like he had teammates around him that wanted the ball,” Lemine went on to say. “He felt like he had to do everything when he really didn’t. This year he is not going to have to do that. We are going to have 11 guys on the field even when we bring on subs that are capable of doing the job.”
Joining Seams this year will be another first-team all-stater in senior Matthew Cook along with Joseph Cochran and Steven Martinez who Lemine is hoping will have a breakout season.
“Jacob Hixenbaugh was a regular starter last year and got a concussion and had to sit out. He never really came back super strong and was a guy that floated around to several positions. This year he has a set position and he is focused on that,” Lemine said. “There are a ton of other guys that we think will help us like Chase Mizia, Luke Dolin, Ryan Wagner and I could go on and on.”
Team expectations are something that Lemine keeps internal, but he feels the key to his team’s success is to be prepared for every game. He wants to see his team engaged, intense and prepared for every practice.
Greenbrier East is in the same section as Oak Hill, Princeton and Woodrow Wilson. Lemine knows the postseason will not be an easy ride.
“We have always had a tough section. I know Oak Hill basically returns everybody. Woodrow only lost three people and Princeton didn’t lose very many either. I don’t think you are going to see anybody in our section back down from anybody,” Lemine said. “It’s exciting to have our section this good and have three solid games against three solid sectional opponents. We are not stressed out about that and we know what we have to do. We feel comfortable that if we get through those games, we can take on anybody in the state.”
Lemine is also hoping this season does not see the restrictions brought on by COVID protocols last year.
“We didn’t get to play George Washington last year because of COVID, so we are excited to see them again. I am just excited to be back with my group and playing again. I love going out and seeing other coaches, like Coach (Cody) Freas at Hurricane and Coach Chris Meighen at RCB. As well as Coach (Robbie) Fix at Princeton, Steve Laraba at Woodrow and coach Chad Smith. I know (Chad) is not at Oak Hill anymore, which sucks for that program because he is such a great guy. We have a good relationship with everybody in our section. We root for each other outside of the games we play against each other.”
Greenbrier East opens the regular season at home this Saturday against Buckhannon-Upshur.
