Fairlea – For the third consecutive year Greenbrier East found itself in a familiar position, hosting rival Beckley in the sectional championship game.
The last two contests both ended in shootout heartbreakers that saw the Flying Eagles celebrate on the Spartans’ home turf.
Turns out third time’s the charm.
Capitalizing on a goal in each half, the host Spartans blanked Beckley 2-0 to earn the Class AAA Region 3, Section 2 title Thursday night in Fairlea.
Playing on the defensive for most of the first half, the Spartans withstood an early barrage of Beckley shots in the box while capitalizing on their own limited opportunities.
It started with a pair of near misses in the opening eight minutes that had the Flying Eagles feeling optimistic about their opportunities, an optimism that quickly faded when East senior Adam Seams drew first blood in the 13th minute.
“We were just getting down the field and I happened to be up because I’m playing center back this year,” Seams said. “I made a forward run, put in a nice cross and Nick White was there and it bounced off his leg, came to me and I was like I’ve got to get something so I dove and put the ball in the back of the net and got the crowd into it which was a big factor. The community really came out and supported us and it’s really rare to see, especially in West Virginia, a lot of people at a soccer game but this community’s had our back since my freshman year and this year with this beautiful facility we’re getting more people here. The crowd tonight really helped us.”
Beckley kept the pressure on East’s defense with majority of the half played in the Spartans’ defensive third but the Flying Eagles struggled to find the back of the net.
“The first 40 minutes were really good,” Beckley head coach Steve Laraba said. “We created a lot of chances – a lot of dangerous chances. Their goalkeeper made some fantastic saves. It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to capitalize on those chances in the first half. I was really happy with how we played in the first half.”
The possessions were still there for the Flying Eagles in the second half but East’s defense made quality looks harder to come by. On defense the visitors returned the favor for most of the half, forcing East to settle for long shots but a breakdown in the 68th minute led to a Noah Edwards goal, accounting for the final score.
“I thought our defensive spacing between our back four was great for the most part,” East head coach Lucas Lemine said. “We didn’t do a very good job of tracking runners and our midfield got hammered and Joe Cochran our goalie had to come up big – he’s only given up 13 goals all year. He’s a stud and he was an absolute stud tonight. We’ve got to give him a ton of credit but we’ve got a lot of things to shore up. Tonight though I think the spacing between the back four was good enough to be in the right spots at the right time.”
The win sends East to the regional round for the first time since 2019, when this group of seniors were freshmen. On top of advancing them to within one game of the state tournament, the win is special for this group of Spartans because of the two previous home losses to Beckley that ended their seasons.
“Our freshman year we won the sectional championship we were pretty confident but the last two years we lost on PKs,” Seams said. “The mood was different. The last two years coming into the game people were a little nervous. But today we were all just excited and looking forward to the game. In the locker room we were all thrilled to be out here and I think the attitude before the game is what helped tonight. We just stayed positive and were excited to play.”
For the Flying Eagles the loss brings an end to a season that saw them lose just one other game – also to Greenbrier East – after graduating all-staters Evan Laraba and Carson Eckley last year.
“They were fantastic,” Laraba said. “This was such an awesome group of players and a great group of seniors. The team as a whole has been just so good. They deserved to have this be a more positive result for them. These guys laid it out the whole time.”
East advances to the Region 3 championship where it will face George Washington next week for a spot in the state tournament. The two teams met once this season on Sept. 29, a 3-0 win for the Patriots.
