Quick strikes were the order of business Tuesday at Paul Cline Stadium.
The Greenbrier East girls and Beckley boys both scored early and rode the momentum to victory in the opening round of the Class AAA Region 3, Section 2 soccer tournament.
Tyler Radford set the wheels in motion for the No. 1 seeded Flying Eagle boys with a blast in the eighth minute leading to a 4-1 win over Oak Hill.
Earlier in the evening senior Alyson McManamay jump-started the Lady Spartans with a goal in the fourth minute of play sending No. 3 seed East past No. 2 Beckley 3-1.
Beckley advances to the boys sectional final Thursday against No. 3 Princeton which upset defending Class AAA state champion, Greenbrier East, 2-1 in Fairlea Tuesday.
The East girls will battle No. 1 seed Oak Hill Thursday in the title match. The Red Devils blanked Princeton 10-0 Tuesday.
“Good win in the first round of the playoffs. Oak Hill is a local rival and anything can happen this time of year. I thought that our boys played well,” Beckley head coach Steve Laraba said. “We were pretty good with the ball, especially in the first half to get a couple of goals. We were able to get a couple of more in the second half and start resting some players, making sure we are healthy and card free for Thursday.”
Freshman Hagen Hall pushed the lead to 2-0 for the Flying Eagles in the 24th minute off an assist from Ishmael Fayiah, where the match stood at the break.
“It gets the flow going,” Laraba said about Radford’s goal. “If you score early, they can’t sit. They have to come out. This time of year there are no moral victories. You have to come out and try to get that goal. As teams open up, space opens up for our guys to do things that they do well.”
Beckley’s leading scorer Coby Dillon found the back of the net in the 47th minute before setting up teammate Jackson Gray for a score in the 56th minute for a 4-0 lead.
“(Coby) has really taken well to playing up top. Because of his club team play he has a symmetry with Hagen, Vince (Umberger), (Jackson) and Ali (Farghaly),” Laraba said. “He has also developed a really good type of relationship with Tyler Snyder as well. They are working really well with and off of each other.”
Judah Hrabosky added the goal for Oak Hill, but the attack all night belonged to Beckley. The Flying Eagles had 14 shots on goal and 12 corners in the win
Greenbrier East had not scored in either regular season clash against its longtime rival.
Running down a through ball from Ryan White, McManamay beat the Beckley keeper for the early lead.
“That first goal was the biggest game-changer of the entire night. It set everyone’s mood ready for success,” McManamay said. “Having something happen quick is a really good way to have your team bonded instead of getting frustrated on the field.”
Once McManamay gathered the ball and had the needed separation from the defenders, the senior striker knew she did not want to miss on such a great chance.
“I just told myself, do not slow down. I knew if I slowed down I would miss it,” McManamay said. “I saw the keeper coming, so I knew I just needed to stay calm and take the shot nice and easy.”
For a team that has struggled to score most of the season, East head coach Mike Dotson was glad to see such an early goal for his team.
“It was huge. We have been struggling to score all year. We got a few (players) back, not (fully) healthy, but we are as healthy as we are going to be. It allowed us to put Aly McManamay up front which gave us a whole different dynamic. We were just happy to get a lead,” Dotson said.
In the final 10 minutes of the half McManamay put the visitors clearly in the driver’s seat for the win.
Following a wild scrum in front of the Beckley net, McManamay gathered the loose ball and knocked in her second goal for a 2-0 lead.
McManamay then pushed the lead to 3-0 on another netter with 3:20 left on the first half clock.
Crashing the net on Caroline Dotson’s blast, McManamay collected the rebound and drilled it in the back of the net for the first half hat trick.
“She is a senior and she has played 100 percent from the time she stepped on the field as a freshman,” Dotson said about McManamay. “She did a great job. If you look, even on the rebounds off the goalie’s hands, she is right there. She has always given 100 percent. That has never been an issue for her.”
Ama Ackon-Annan game Beckley some life with a goal just before the half, but on the night the Flying Eagles could manage just three shots on goal.
“There center-back (Ryan White) just shut us down. She is a great player and she closed off everything. She did a great job,” Beckley girls head coach Julie Agnor said. “We had a lot of trouble in the middle of the field and we couldn’t get it to where we needed to go. East came to play.”
Beckley defeated Princeton 2-0 in the only regular season matchup between the two teams. Since that meeting the Tigers are 8-2-1 down the home stretch.
“It is going to be a big game. Princeton is playing very well,” Laraba said. “They have wins against Charleston Catholic and now East. They have obviously put something together. It is going to be a really well-contested sectional final.”
Greenbrier East dropped both regular season meetings with Oak Hill by the score of 1-nil. However, the Spartans have also found the magic at the right time having won four straight now after the win over Beckley.
“We needed some games under our belts to get rolling and we were looking forward to sectionals,” Dotson said. “We are ready to move on to the next step. I tell them all the time it takes one rock to move a mountain. We are ready to move the mountain.”
