Beckley – Beckley’s title defense is seemingly anchored by just that – defense.
The Flying Eagles didn’t allow a single shot on goal in their home opener, smothering Morgantown in a 2-0 victory Saturday afternoon at the Paul Cline Memorial YMCA Youth Sports Complex in Beckley.
The win moves the Flying Eagles to 2-0 on the year with both of Saturday’s goals coming courtesy of reigning state Player of the Year Coby Dillon.
Scoreless at the half, Dillon quickly gave the Flying Eagles a 1-0 lead out of the break in the 44th minute and nailed the dagger in the 74th.
It was the opposite of the season opening victory at Hurricane where both of Beckley’s goals came in the opening half.
“Ali (Farghaly) did a great job with individual work and made a tough place for the goalie, the ball came back to me and I was able to finish it,” Dillon said. “The second goal the ball started bouncing around again, honestly. Hit it, the goalie made a good save and I placed it better.”
While scoreless at the half, the Flying Eagles had their opportunities with three corner kick attempts in the first half but none of them found the back of the net. A staple of their offense a year ago, head coach Steve Laraba wasn’t overly concerned, even expecting it.
“The video’s out there from last year,” Laraba smiled. “Set pieces are something that you work on and perfect throughout the season because it is a lot of timing. I think on a lot of the set pieces we did get the first touch – maybe we were up a little early or the ball was a little high. Those are things that are going to come as we practice more.”
For the Flying Eagles, who registered their first shutout of the season, the defense was smothering. Morgantown struggled to even get to the back line, held without a single shot on goal.
“Their defense is really good,” Morgantown head coach Sam Snyder said. “Honestly we didn’t get a chance to test it because they shifted and overloaded our midfield really well. They were even better in transition so we weren’t able to bypass and see what their defense could really do.”
Brycen Doss recorded the clean sheet for the Flying Eagles.
Beckley will put its 2-0 record on the line Tuesday when it travels to Winfield.
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