The Greenbrier East boys’ soccer team has a motto they try to live by this year. “Win the next battle.”
East has been winning many battles lately and last week had one of their best stretches in recent memory.
East defeated Charleston Catholic 2-1 after a corner kick that started with Adam Seams and ended with a Luke Dolan goal, ended, and sealed the deal for the Spartans. They then defeated Princeton 3-0 and capped the week with another impressive showing, a 2-1 win over University.
Head coach Lucas Lemine continues to resonate with his team and really likes the way they are approaching week to week.
“It was a heck of a week,” Lemine said.
“We didn’t see the practice field once. We focused on watching film and trying to improve tactically. I really had to challenge the guys in the Charleston Catholic game, and they responded extremely well,” Lemine stated.
Lemine said the Princeton contest was big from an area standpoint, but his players knew that going into the matchup.
“They all understood the importance of that game against a sectional opponent and there was no additional motivation needed. We really put a full game together there. Our game is to possess the ball and make other teams tired. We were able to do that against Princeton,” he said.
Somehow the Spartans were able to log 564 attempts against the Tigers and complete an astonishing 80 percent of those.
“That’s unreal for a high school team against anyone,” Lemine said smiling.
According to the coach, only three Premier League teams (London) average more passes per game than what the Spartans had in that game against the Tigers. (Princeton).
Lemine knew his team was exhausted after those two harrowing wins and for his guys to go out and beat the University Hawks, it just made the week even more satisfying.
“The guys were dead and it showed,” the coach said.
It’s really hard to stay fresh for three games in a week against quality opponents even though we weren’t practicing on the field in between,” Lemine said.
The score was 0-0 against University at halftime and Lemine challenged his guys to push through and figure who they were.
“I think they found out in the final seconds of that game who they were, and I couldn’t be more proud of our program,” Lemine concluded.
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