For most of the regular season, one goal had been plenty for the Beckley boys soccer team.
Tuesday night in the Class AAA Region 3 final at Paul Cline Stadium, once again, one goal was all the Flying Eagles needed.
Coby Dillon kicked in a throw from Jonathan Scott in the 26th minute and the Beckley defense worked its magic to secure a 1-0 win over postseason nemesis George Washington.
The win sends the Flying Eagles back to the state tournament for the first time since 2010 and knocks the Patriots out for just the second time over that period.
“It’s been 14 years and it feels really good. (A state championship) has been the goal since August and we are one step closer,” Beckley head coach Steve Laraba said. “We are very happy to have this regional title and going to states. Our job is not done and that is where we are.”
Coming off of a 2-0 regular season setback to the Flying Eagles, veteran George Washington head coach Erik Engle made some adjustments prior to the showdown Tuesday with a berth in the state tournament on the line.
“We knew when they came out they wanted to attack down the side. The wanted to play 1-2 ball down the side,” Engle said. “We watched it the first game. The boys defended it really well and it made it really tough on them.”
“They did cause us a good bit of problems in the midfield trying to figure out where the extra man was,” Laraba said. “Once we did, we were able to change some things.”
The lone goal of the match was a perfect storm for Beckley.
“I hadn’t been in the game very long and the kid kicked it out of bounds,” Scott said. “I didn’t play last time we played G-dub. They hadn’t seen the throw. So, I threw it in and it went off the keepers hands and Coby was there.”
Scott launched the throw from the sideline into the box where Dillon was able to knock in his 17th winner of the season, but clearly his most important.
“Jonathan has a heck of a throw,” Dillon said. “I don’t think it bounced and I got it straight out of the air. I hit it off my leg and it went right over the goalie’s head. I think it bounced once before it went in.”
“The goalie was (really) close to getting a hand on it,” Dillon went on to say. “He came out, but was indecisive. I was able to kick it over his head. It bounced and I thought Ali (Farghaly) was going to finish it as well, but it bounced on in.”
Engle had talked with his team about such a winning scenario during preparation for the match.
“All you need is a bad bounce. We had a bad bounce and the game is over,” Engle said. “I saw the keeper swing at it. I wasn’t sure if he touched it, he probably did. It was just a fluke play that I have never seen the kid make before. It’s unfortunate.”
The game plan to slow down the Flying Eagles offensively did come at a price with the visitors managing just two shots on goal.
“We took away what they wanted to do, but when you focus a lot on what the other team is doing, you don’t have a chance to focus on what you want to do as much,” Engle said. “This team has never been as offensive as some of the teams in the past. When you get a chance to score a goal, you just have to score it, especially against a team this good.”
Outside of the two shots, any other balls that entered the scoring third were quickly handled by the Beckley back row defenders.
“They are so quick and you really can’t see that on film. You don’t really get a feeling for it until you see it in person,” Laraba said about his defenders. “They played some dangerous balls that could have been problematic for us, but the guys were on it. They cleaned up stuff very well.”
Engle also gave praise to the Beckley defensive effort.
“Their defense is very good. Their back-line clears it really quick. It comes to them and they send it back forward,” the GW coached explained. “They are about attacking and counter-attacking. When we took away the sideline that is what they had to do and they did it well. They won a lot of 50-50 balls.”
While many in the Beckley camp will see this as some redemption for the nightmares that George Washington has caused over the years, Laraba did not exactly see it that way.
“I think they did feel like they were here for a purpose, not just to be here,” Laraba said about his team. “Their goal was to win this title. It just happened to be George Washington on the other side of the field. The most important thing for the guys was the title, not who they were playing.”
