By Mark Robinson
Greenbrier East’s boys soccer team lost a close game to Woodrow Wilson Tuesday night, falling 2-1 in extra time at Woodrow’s field in Beckley.
Against a team which beat them by five goals just a few weeks earlier, the Spartans came out of the gate playing fast and smart, battling the Flying Eagles through the first half to a 0-0 score.
Eight minutes into the second half, Jodice Shanklin broke free behind Woodrow’s defense, making it all the way to the goal, where he put the ball just to the right of the goalie. East led, 1-0.
Woodrow battled for the next 28 minutes in vain, unable to get the ball in the net against a tight Spartan defense. Then with just four minutes remaining in the game, in a cluster of players right in front of the goal, Woodrow’s Tyler Miller took a short pass from Nathan Williams and put it into the right edge of the goal, barely out of the reach of East’s goalie, Ryan Pitsenbarger.
The score held at 1-1 to the end of the game. After a break, the teams resumed play. In overtime, the first team to score wins the game. Just a few minutes into the extra time, Woodrow’s Austin Hatfield kicked the ball into the left edge of the net to win it.
East played hard enough and well enough to win, but it didn’t end that way. Lucas Lemine, East’s head coach, said after the game, “Good game. We played well. The guys played their hearts out. They gave everything they had.”
