Gallery by Heather Belcher
The Beckley girls and boys soccer teams closed out the regular season Saturday at Paul Cline Stadium with one main goal in mind – build on their already strong momentum heading into the postseason.
Although only one was victorious, both head coaches walked away feeling the mission was accomplished.
“I think this game does a lot for us because Huntington is a good team,” Beckley boys head coach Steve Laraba said. “We are able to keep the level of intensity and play that we need for next week.”
Laraba’s crew shutout the Highlanders 3-nil for their fourth consecutive win and fourth straight clean sheet by keeper Bryson Doss.
It was also the 13th goose egg Doss has recorded on the season, negating six shots sent in by the boys from Cabell County.
“Bryson was very good with managing the game today at times. I am not sure how many times he was actually tested today, but you can only make the saves that you are asked to make. He did a very good job on that,” Laraba said.
The Flying Eagles were also extremely efficient in the win Saturday converting 75-percent of their shots on goals into winners.
Junior Michael Fayiah scored the first goal on a strong attack down the left side of the pitch. Fayiah ripped a curling shot just inside the near post for the eventual winning try.
Coby Dillon doubled the lead when he scored off a nice assist from senior Ishmael Fayiah midway through the second half. Less than two minutes later, Dillon pushed the lead to three with an unassisted goal for the final margin.
“I think we had a couple of other opportunities where we needed to get shots today, but when you get four shots on goal and you make three of them, you are going to take that,” Laraba said.”
The Beckley girls were on the wrong side of a 3-nil decision against Wheeling Park Saturday morning.
A win or a loss was not the main focus for Beckley girls head coach Julie Agnor against the powerhouse Patriots.
“I told the girls from the get-go it was not about the score of this game, it was about how we play.” Agnor said. “That was their focus and they were ready today. We played the big guns early (in the season) and it made us better and stronger. It was very obvious today with just a 3-0 loss. This team is ready.”
The Flying Eagles were without defensive back line stalwart Kyndall Dooley and senior striker Vai Simmons for the match and Agnor was very pleased with how her team answered the challenge.
“I had Carly Fisher on there No. 10 (all-state senior Merritt Delk),” Agnor said. “Lina (Siedentopf), our foreign exchange student, stepped in and helped where Kyndall was out. Those are things that we have been working on. Always train for the worst scenario.”
The scoreboard may have begged to differ Saturday, but Agnor was convinced the day was a win for her girls.
“I feel like we have some nice momentum going into sectionals. The girls wanted to know why we were playing such a hard team before sectionals. It is because when we play well against a hard team, it is better for us going into the postseason,” Agnor said. “If you play a lazy team in a lazy game, you are already down for the next game. That was my purpose in playing this game.”
Both teams open postseason play Tuesday at Paul Cline Stadium. The Beckley boys are the No. 1 seed in AAA Region 3, Section 2, while the girls are the No. 2 seed.
Oak Hill will be the opponent for the boys who won the lone regular season match between the schools, 4-0.
The Flying Eagles have pulled off their fair share of stunners in the postseason and Laraba will not allow his team to be caught looking ahead of Tuesday.
“We have talked with these guys (and explained) you never know what is going to happen. A couple years ago we were the three (seed) and went to (Greenbrier) East,” Laraba explained. “They had beat us soundly in the regular season and we were able to get out with a win. Any game that we have this week, we have the utmost focus on. You have to take every game very, very seriously.”
For the ladies it will be the third meeting of the year with Greenbrier East. Beckley won the first meeting 4-0 and battled to a 0-0 draw for round two in Fairlea.
“I think the quick attack is really key for us. We have to be on our toes and it has to come from the back all the way through,” Agnor said. “We can’t just depend on a few people to do the work. The whole team has to do the work and we saw that today.”
The girls game will start at 6 p.m. with the boys are tentatively set for 8 p.m.
