FAIRLEA, WV- There was no slowing down the Greenbrier East Spartans soccer team on Tuesday night, Aug. 22 as they jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they defeated the Oak Hill Red Devils 6-1 in what was also a sectional matchup.
The Spartans got on the board about eight minutes into the first half when Ian Gadd, a transfer from Nicholas County, scored a goal off an assist by John Withrow. That made the score 1-0 at that point.
About 10 minutes later, with 22:31 left on the clock, Dawson Trusty put the Spartans up 2-0 and the momentum just kept swinging to East’s favor.
Gadd got back in the scorebooks with another goal at the 13:09 mark to give the Spartans a commanding 3-0 advantage.
“Ian gives our team a proven goal scorer and brings a different level of team confidence when playing well, head coach Lucas Lemine said after the game.
“Ian is a cog in the wheel but feel as though each individual, whether they are starting or coming off the bench, have a vital role in our program and everyone needs to fulfill the role they have earned by being a part of the program,” he added.
After Gadd’s second goal, before you could blink, Parker Hill tacked on another with 13:27 left, as the Spartans took a 4-0 lead, and it remained that way until halftime.
“We really just played our game tonight. Possessed the ball on a really high level, players found open spaces, and we took advantage,” Lemine stated.
The second half looked as if it would be a scoreless half of soccer, but Oak Hill got on the board when Nathan Hurt scored to make it 4-1.
But Gadd scored his third of the night with 3:16 to go and Withrow added the final score for the Spartans as they cruised to an east win.
“We know that what happened this evening won’t happen every game, but it is our goal to dominate possession and wear our opponents down so that we can create easier goal scoring opportunities. Oak Hill made some excellent adjustments in the second half to their low block defensive shape that made it much more difficult for us to score,” Lemine said.
The Spartans will get a few days off and then will host South Charleston this Saturday, Aug. 26 at noon.
