Gallery by Heather Belcher
The legendary leader of Sparta, King Leonidas I, implored his men before their historic battle against the Persian army to “Remember this day, men, for it will be yours for all time.”
October 25, 2022 will forever be the day that belongs to the Greenbrier East Spartans boys soccer team.
Taking perennial soccer powerhouse George Washington to a shootout from the mark, Greenbrier East outdueled the Patriots 4-2 in the AAA Region 3 championship to advance to the boys state soccer tournament for the first time in school history.
“I have a ton of former players that were here tonight and they have helped build this thing, but this group is special. There is no group that deserves it more,” Greenbrier East head coach Lucas Lemine said. “What a fantastic game and this is what I expected. When we got up, the game got stretched, but we weren’t going to sit back. We wanted to continue to go and generate more chances, but their movement up top caused us to lose runners several times. The kids they throw out you are so good.”
The two teams had squared off in the regular season in Charleston and the Patriots walked away with a 3-0 win. Add in the fact that GW had not lost a regional match since 2010 and Greenbrier East felt the pressure was off.
“We talked about it today. We didn’t have anything to lose, so we came out and played our butts off,” East senior captain Adam Seams said. “The boys from East have never been to states. G-Dub is there like every freakin’ year. This could have been our last game, but we live on.”
Greenbrier East had to weather a heavy storm launched early by George Washington which saw East keeper Joe Cochran face three strong shots on frame in the first three minutes of action.
Midway through the opening half, Cochran was again tested on a Patriots run behind the East defenders. Coming up to play the ball, Cochran took down the attacker, drawing a yellow card, giving the Patriots a penalty kick.
It was a pivotal moment in the match because Cochran could have been given a red card and forced to leave the game.
“In my opinion it was a scoring opportunity with a foul which typically results in a red card. The referee doesn’t have to give it that way. It is a judgement call from them,” George Washington head coach Erik Engle said. “They determined it was a yellow and I am not going to dispute what their call was. We scored off of it, so it doesn’t matter really.”
The one area that could have changed with Cochran getting a red card was the fact that East would have been forced to play a man down the rest of the way. That was not how Engle wanted to see things go Tuesday.
“Frankly I would rather watch a match between Greenbrier East and GW where it is full squads than them have to play a man down,” Engle said.
With Cochran out for the ensuing kick, Michael Luechauer was true on the penalty try to give George Washington a 1-0 lead.
The Patriots later threatened on a shot from Isaac White which was saved by Cochran and a blast Wes Goodwin that hit the crossbar, but GW could not build on the lead.
Needing a spark, East went to its senior leader and the all-stater delivered in a big way. Seams knocked in a header with just over three minutes to play in the half off a direct kick from Ryan Wagner.
“I was trailing and no one saw me. Ryan Wagner played a beautiful ball. I wanted a header and got the goal,” Seams said. “The fans really came out tonight and that seemed to change the intensity for the rest of the game and changed the momentum.”
The match stayed tied midway through the second half before East exploded for two goals in just over a minute.
Peter Furlong broke the tie when he collected a loose ball off a wild scrum in front of the net and banged it in for a 2-1 lead.
Before the raucous East crowd could settle down, senior Chase Mizia beat the GW defender for an unassisted goal and a 3-1 advantage.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, they could not corral Luechauer in the final minutes. The junior striker sent a hush through the crowd when he hammered home a shot with 7:07 to play.
The hush went to uneasy nervousness when Luechauer knocked in another try less than two minutes later sending the game to sudden victory overtime.
“We just wanted to stay positive and keep going,” Mizia said about heading to the overtime session. “We knew we shouldn’t have let those goals happen, but we were positive and Joe made a great save to keep us in it.”
“The momentum had swung back to them, so the next ten minutes was hold it and see if we could find one,” Seams said. “They had all of the momentum, but we found a way. It’s unbelievable.”
Cochran’s biggest save of the night came in the waning seconds of the first overtime session.
With Luechauer attacking along the end line, Seams attempted to make a defensive stop, but was called for a foul in the box when he took Luechauer down.
With under 40 seconds left, GW had a penalty kick to cap off a stirring comeback.
Cochran had other ideas.
“As the PK was about to be shot, I saw Adam in my peripheral vision and he was on the ground with his hands over his head,” Cochran said. “I said to myself that I wasn’t going to let him down.”
In one of many tense moments in the extra periods, Lemine was confident his keeper would make the save.
“If there is a better keeper in the state, I haven’t seen one and there are some phenomenal guys out there,” Lemine said. “He is incredible. If he doesn’t save that PK…. but I said immediately when Adam dropped his head that Joe had his back.”
It was a tough break for Seams who has been an outstanding player his entire career. At a time when it looked like the season was coming to an end for East, hope sprang eternal.
“When I gave up that PK, I was thinking Oh, no! Joe Cochran, though, is the best keeper in the state,” Seams beamed. “He had our backs today.”
It wasn’t the last close call for East however. In the second overtime period a loose ball headed in for a goal was cleared off the back line by Bobby Beverage to preserve the tie and send the match to kicks from the mark.
“That was a great save by Bobby and great hustle. I freakin’ love him,” Mizia said, laughing.
“Whenever we were going to PK’s, we knew (Cochran) had our backs again and all we needed to do was put the ball in the back of the net,” Seams said.
In the best-of-five shootout, both teams scored on their first two attempts. Luechauer and Goodwin scored for the Patriots, while Luke Dolin and Beverage scored for the Spartans.
However, when GW’s third attempt went high across the bar, Dawson Trusty sent the East crowd into a frenzy when he drill a shot in the back of the net for a 3-2 lead.
GW then watched its tournament hopes fade drastically when the next attempt hit the post and bounced back into the field of play.
That brought Mizia to the line and the senior striker sent East into the history books.
“I just wanted to stay calm in my head and not over-think it. I wanted to pick a spot, put it there and execute,” Mizia said.
For a program that had tasted some sour times in the postseason, especially in matches that went to kicks, Lemine was proud of his team’s resiliency Tuesday.
“We have implemented a pre-game talk and it is about belief. Against Woodrow (Wilson in the sectional final) it was about belief and doubt. Can we believe and not let doubt creep in like we have before,” Lemine said. “Tonight was belief and character. I can’t describe the amount of belief and character these kids showed tonight. I am at a loss for words.”
The loss brings to an end a historic run for George Washington, but the tough match was no surprise to Engle.
“That is what happens when you play in the playoffs. We expected this to be the hardest match that we had all season and it was,” Engle said. “I was so proud of our boys to battle back after going down 3-1. Greenbrier East played a great game and had a great game plan.”
Greenbrier East earned the No. 1 seed in the boys AAA division of the state soccer tournament and will play No. 4 seed Wheeling Park at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 4 at Paul Cline Stadium.
The other semifinal matchup that will follow the first game is No. 2 Hurricane against No. 3 Spring Mills.
