Beckley – The weather told the story Thursday night.
George Washington weathered an early goal while the rain poured, held Beckley scoreless during a dry spell and got washed away when the rain picked back up again.
The Class AAA defending state champions scored five goals in the final nine minutes, claiming the Class AAAA Region 3 title and a return berth to the state tournament Thursday night at the Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex in Beckley.
For the first 70 minutes, the opposing Patriots limited the Flying Eagles to just a single goal, a shot from Hagen Hall in the 12th minute, keeping the defending state champs on their toes.
“I think they had a plan to try and put a lot of pressure on us and force us to play under a lot of pressure,” Beckley head coach Steve Laraba said. “Then to try and get quick counters and they did a good job with it. I think once we settled down – it was;t until the last 10 minutes – once we settled down a little bit and connected bases we were able to break their pressure pretty easily”
The barrage started on Hall’s second goal of the game in the 71st minute. Then followed Ali Farghaly in the 73rd, Coby Dillon in the 74th, Vince Umberger in the 76th and Alex Belcher in the 79th minute with one second to play.
“I think that GW had a great game plan and they had to put forth a lot of energy to be able to compete as well as they did for as long as they did,” Laraba said. “Maybe some tired legs got them and once we were able to solve the puzzle and hit a couple of passing combination together, once we got the second goal then everybody was really feeling it. After that they were coming from anywhere and everywhere.”
The victory continues to loosen GW’s hold on the regional with the Flying Eagles winning it for the second consecutive season while rival Greenbrier East wrestled it away in 2022.
“It’s great and it doesn’t always happen,” Laraba said. “It’s always a treat to get back to the state tournament. You get to represent your school and community and it’s a big deal to make the state tournament and we’re thrilled to be back.”
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