Images by Brad Davis
Beckley – It is often said that lightning cannot strike twice in the same spot.
Technically that was correct Saturday at Carter Family Field in Beckley, but clearly Greenbrier East head boys soccer coach, Lucas Lemine had seen this scenario once before.
In a scene reminiscent of last year’s game against University in Morgantown, a heads up play by junior Adam Seams gave the Spartans a miraculous, 2-1 comeback victory Saturday in the waning seconds of the match.
With the clock ticking under 10 seconds, Greenbrier East was awarded a corner kick. Seams scrambled for the ball and launched a strike in front of the keeper that found Luke Dolin. Dolin’s try hit the back of the net with just three ticks remaining on the game clock.
“Last year we had the same thing. Adam had a free kick with like three seconds left. He hit it off the bar and the keeper was going that way and it went in. We won 2-1,” Lemine recalled.
Lemine said the credit for today’s miracle finish belonged solely with his junior all-stater.
“That was 100 percent on Adam. He knew the time and the situation,” Lemine said. “I threw everybody forward and with both teams being so exhausted, University just lost focus for that last second. They didn’t have enough people back and they lost Luke who scored the winner.”
Fielding a young team, University head coach Michael Smith spoke about keeping the loss in perspective.
“(Greenbrier East) is a little more experienced than the group we have. We lost a lot last year and we are 2-4 now. I told the guys that this game was not about Greenbrier East, it was about us and what we can do to improve,” Smith said. “To be honest we are inconsistent. We will play great one game, but two nights ago we played the worst game since I have been a coach. To have this team come out and battle like they did today, we are on the right track.”
The match was scoreless inside 30 minutes to play when Hawks’ midfielder, Pham Homklin blasted a chance into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
“We stunk all day really. This is our third game this week. I did my best not to do that, but Charleston Catholic wanted to pick us up late and I certainly couldn’t turn down Charleston Catholic,” Lemine said. “We have not been on the practice field one time. The boys are really tired, and I don’t have any depth right now. The kids were worn down and it showed.”
The Spartans dug deep and tied the match late on a goal from Chase Mizia before Seams’ last second heroics.
Although he is keeping the loss in proper perspective, the deciding goal did not fully sit well with Smith.
“That was more of a mental breakdown. I couldn’t fault a lot of the mistakes this game, but that was one glaring mistake. This is a young team with a thin bench, we were getting gassed and all of that comes into play.”
The Greenbrier East girls played Cabell Midland after the boy’s game and came up on the wrong end of a 4-1 decision.
Trailing 1-0 at the break, the match slipped away from the Spartans in the final 40 minutes.
“I thought the first half was great progress for us. We got some kids back from quarantine and sickness, and the first half we looked like a good team,” Greenbrier East head girls coach Michael Dotson said. “The second half we kind of ran out of gas. We had chances in the first half and if we could have scored in the first half it could have changed the game around.”
With a young team, Dotson is still searching to find the right combinations for his team which has struggled to find the net early in the season.
“We keep moving things around and when our goalie is out, we have to move one of our (midfielders), which moves everything back,” Dotson said. “We have young front line and attacking mids, so hopefully when they play more, we will get more scoring down the road.”
Ryan White scored the goal on Saturday for the Spartans.
Both Greenbrier East squads have key sectional clashes up next. The boys travel to Oak Hill Thursday at 7 p.m., while the girls are back in action at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Princeton.
