Greenbrier East certainly doesn’t take its position for granted, and the Spartans did not go into the season overconfident.
But they knew they could be in this very spot, as long as everything fell into place.
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“We kind of marked it on our calendar as soon as practice started in the offseason that we planned on being back to states again,” head coach Mike Dotson said. “And as a group, we wanted to make that next step. The one thing that some of the girls who ran track and basketball, we talked about them winning states. They said let’s go get one in soccer, too. So they had it in their mind, too. That’s their next step.”
Everything did, indeed, go according to plan, and the Spartans are back in the tournament for the second straight year. They take the No. 2 seed into the Class AAA field and will play No. 3 Bridgeport Thursday at approximately 7:30 p.m. at Cline Stadium at the YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Sports Complex.
After missing the state tournament seven straight seasons, the Spartans (19-3-1) are making consecutive appearances on the strength of a roster that contains a mix of talented seniors and younger players.
Leading the way have been senior captains Avery Thompson, Ava Workman and Kiana McClung. Workman is second on the team with 25 goals and third with 12 assists, and Thompson is a leading defensive force.
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“They are 1A and 1B,” Dotson said of Thompson and Workman. “They lead us on both the offensive side with Ava, with the goals and the assists and just overall attention she gets. And then Avery is just an unbelievable defensive presence back there with our whole group as far as setting that tone and stepping and stuff.”
McClung got a late start, missing the first half of the season with an ankle injury. Her eight goals have come over the last eight games and all have been big, Dotson said.
“She’s come on strong,” Dotson said. “We expected big things out of her just watching her in preseason. We just hate that her ankle kind of put her behind. But if you look, the last few games, she really has stepped it up. And I think she gives us a different dynamic up front with her speed.”
Sophomore Lyla Brown has had a stellar followup to a freshman season that saw her tie the program record for goals in a season with 28. She currently leads the team with 26 goals and 14 assists.
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“Lyla is just a scoring machine,” Dotson said. “She may (end up) the all-time leading scorer at East, if she’s not already. She just plays big in big games. Some of those games, she comes out and she plays and she makes things happen that you won’t see in the stat book, but we see it. And she just has a knack. She has great energy. She can play some soccer. And I expect big things out of her, not just our team, but maybe in the future at college somewhere.”
Much like Brown last year, freshman Mia Furlong has had a strong debut. She’s third on the team with 16 goals and second with 12 assists.
“She’s had an unbelievable year coming in, just right foot, left foot. She’s active. Really been impressed with her, and then Addy Vance in the midfield has really been huge for us, too. As in attacking, she has great vision for that. As a freshman, she sees the field very well to feed not just Mia, but other forwards as well.”
Junior Rylee Wickline is tied with McClung with eight assists.
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The Spartans defeated Bridgeport 1-0 on Aug. 29, but Dotson said they won’t lean much on that game, which was played in much warmer weather in the second week of the season.
Senior Lindsey Callahan leads the Indians (15-6-1) with 35 goals and is second with nine assists.
In a unique twist, Bridgeport keeper Macie Dotson is Mike’s niece and has many friends on the Greenbrier East squad. She has saved 42 of the 49 shots on goal sent her way.
Mike said they have been rooting for her all year and were hoping to avoid playing against her.
“My brother’s rooting against me,” Mike said, laughing. “But I guess that’s how it should work.”
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No. 1 East Fairmont, the defending champion, will face No. 4 Charleston Catholic at 5 p.m., prior to the Greenbrier East-Bridgeport game. The winners will meet Saturday at approximately 1 p.m. for the state championship.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
