FAIRLEA- After a successful 2024 campaign where they finished 13-5-1, the Greenbrier East boys’ soccer team returns plenty of talent capable of making a push for greatness in this upcoming 2025 season.
East lost in the Region 3, Section 2 title game last year to eventual state champion Woodrow Wilson and with that loss fresh in the minds of the Spartans returning group, head coach Lucas Lemine felt his team has worked extremely hard to prepare for this year.
“This group of boys has worked extremely hard in the offseason, getting together two to three times a week, sometimes twice a day, completely student led, nothing I’ve posted or asked them to do,” Lemine said proudly.
“They are motivated, they had a great flex week last week, and it continued into day one (Monday). I think our group of kids always has high expectations and I know that I always have high expectations for my program and that will not change, no matter who coaches this group, my sons’ u4 team or my daughters’ u8. We want to continually make positive strides in developing our student athletes and we want to win,” he added.
Lemine always has high hopes for his group but also understands that it is the players who ultimately have to make the plays on the field.
“My expectations don’t really ever change. I want the world for the kids, and I’ve set the expectation that my position goes above and beyond wins and losses. We will continue to take a daily approach to get better than yesterday. We will continue to have a game plan going into every contest and it’s the players job to execute.”
Even with fans and players excited to get going, the Spartan coaches know the role they have to play to make sure the entire team can reach their full potential and also learn from their inevitable mistakes along the way.
“The coaching staff has an outlook and timeline for this particular group and it’s our jobs to get them to reach their maximal potential within the following months. That’s our expectation and those are the guidelines we will follow. There will be bumps in the road, but more lessons can be learned from any contest’s outcome. Honestly, I think the staff is just looking forward to working with the group, seeing progressions and helping our student athletes reach the best athletic version of themselves,” Lemine stated.
As far as the schedule goes, Greenbrier East plays a familiar, yet balanced slate and one that will help get them ready for play in the postseason, which is always an important element for the team.
“The schedule didn’t change too much,” Lemine said.
“I did my due diligence in attempting to schedule regional opponents but didn’t push extremely hard. We still play a pretty similar schedule to what we are used to. We play seven AAAA, 11 AAA and two A schools. I think it’s a great schedule and will give us a true outlook on this group’s capabilities and our strengths and weaknesses will be shown. We need to challenge ourselves in order to be our best.”
Lemine doesn’t really have a team motto or expression in mind for the season but just wants to make sure he helps keep his players healthy, and when the time comes, just give everything you have to give on the field.
“Team motto hasn’t really been something we do seasonally, we will wear a slogan on a warmup shirt, and something will organically come into the group dependent on the situation. Our goal as a group is to get through the season healthy and progressing in the right direction, go into our first regional– there are no more sectionals–tournament and give it everything we have,” he explained.
So, in all, it’s safe to say Lemine really likes his team and is anxious for everything to get started and the memories he gets to make as a head coach is just icing on the cake.
“This is a good group of young men and from what I’ve seen in the offseason, they are ready to put on the uniform and represent the program, school, and community with everything they have. Winning hardware seems to be everyone’s goal but I’m living in the moment and creating memories with this group,” he exclaimed.
