Oak Hill – Thursday night on the pitch at Oak Hill High School, there wasn’t much that separated the Red Devils boys soccer team and their visitors from Greenbrier East.
Turns out the only difference in the match was an own goal that lifted the Spartans to a tightly contested 1-0 victory.
“It was a good game. We had a couple of guys out and some people really stepped up tonight,” Greenbrier East head coach Lucas Lemine said. “Peter Furlong played a new position, center-mid, today and worked his socks off. Drew Beverage had probably the best game of his career playing out of position at right-back. We were also very solid defensively. We put some different things in, and they came out were very solid.”
In the early going it was the home team that had the best chances, but as would be the case over the first 40 minutes, the Red Devils could not squeeze one between the posts.
Just nine minutes into the match, Ty Wilburn curved a direct kick that looked as if it would break the scoreless tie. However, Wilburn’s blast hit the near post and bounced harmlessly across the end line.
After a cross from Beverage narrowly missed Adam Seams in front of the Oak Hill goal, Roberto Martinez sent a direct kick sailing over it.
One minute later, the game winner came on a corner kick for the Spartans in the 18th minute. In the congestion in front of the goal, the ball struck an Oak Hill player and found its way into the net.
“It was a good match. It is not very often that you lose and it’s OK. I guess we didn’t help by scoring on ourselves, but other than that, I don’t think that they are a better team than us,” Oak Hill head coach Lenny Keavney said. “I told the boys sometimes you play this game, and you can’t find the net. We could have probably played another 24 hours straight and you would have seen a scoreless draw outside of that goal.”
Leading 1-0 at the break, Lemine had only one slight change he wanted to see from his team in the second half.
“I just asked them to ratchet up the intensity in the second half and they did that. I think both teams had tired legs and maybe we did a little better job of possession,” Lemine said. “That was what made the difference. We were able to keep the ball and make them chase. When we got the opportunity to counter, they didn’t really have the legs for it.”
The best chances in the second half came from the Spartans, but Oak Hill keeper Chance Minor was a stone wall in goal.
Minor stopped a point-blank look from Seams, but his biggest stop of the night came on a penalty kick very early in the second half.
“On that penalty kick, Chance showed that he is special,” Keavney said.
Facing down senior forward Matthew Cook, Minor’s diving save kept Oak Hill from facing a two-goal deficit.
“We created some things tonight, but I don’t think we challenged (Minor) quite enough,” Lemine said. “Cook is a senior and he hasn’t missed a PK in three years. Any other keeper in the state, there is no way they make that save. I have never seen a save like that.”
The opportunities that Oak Hill (5-2-1) could generate in the opening half did not materialize in the second half of the match.
“I thought they did a better job passing the ball than we did. We couldn’t connect with one another like we have previous to this game,” Keavney said. “When you are not able to find each other, it is hard to get the ball forward and find the back of the net.”
“They came with good intensity the whole game. Our boys did the same and it was a good match. We just need to do a better job of finding feet, finding each other, and getting the ball forward. We didn’t finish the opportunities that we had.”
Lemine couldn’t say enough about his team’s defensive effort which was the key factor in securing the win.
“They had one real chance on goal, and they got to the end line at the end of the game. That is not how we play because we don’t want to show anybody the end line. Everybody is dangerous then,” Lemine said. “The defensive shape was excellent tonight. We are always a little bit behind on the attacking, but credit Oak Hill. They were excellent defending the goal. Their goalie was absolutely unbelievable.”
The win gives Greenbrier East (6-0) it’s all-important second regular season sectional win and a leg up on home field advantage for the postseason.
“During the regular season there are three games that matter. There is Princeton and we got that one. There is Oak Hill, and we have that one,” Lemine said. “Now we have Woodrow (Wilson). We have to focus. We want to win the section and utilize our home field and the beautiful facility that we have.”
Both teams are back in action Saturday. Greenbrier East will host Bridgeport at 2 p.m. in Fairlea, while Oak Hill hosts Ripley at 1 p.m.
