MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The UHS boys’ soccer team has done it once again, making the state tournament for the third-straight year, this time with a monster 7-0 shutout over Brooke in the Region I title game.
This year is also reminiscent of last year, as the No. 3 Hawks (9-2-1) will be facing No. 2 Cabell Midland, the team that knocked them out of the 2019 bracket in a shoot out. But UHS coach Michael Smith sees the similarities end there, at least as far as the team’s go.
“Honestly, we’re a very different team, looking at film they’re a very different team and it’s been a different year overall,” Smith said. “There’s not a lot of parallels to be taken from that. When they were announced they were our opponent the guys were happy, and it’s good to have that chance.”
Still, on paper, there are some striking resemblances. Coming off a shortened season, both the Hawks and Knights (11-1-1) will be fighting to put a stamp on the COVID-19 riddled season. Both are high scoring teams, as UHS has 49 goals and the Knights 52 this season. The leaders for the teams are making work of opponents as well: UHS senior Riley Nett holds 23 goals while CMHS senior Garrett Shields has 18. Further, the second leading scorers for each team, senior J.M. Jones and junior Ryan Holmes – a state player of the year contender – have logged goals in double digits. Even the goalkeepers have similar stats, as Cabell Midland’s Gavin Henson (5 GA) and UHS’ Timmy Bailey (8 GA) have had fantastic seasons in front of the net.
So what is coach Smith’s plan going against the hard-hitting Knights? Rely on the experienced backline.
“Shields and Holmes, we’ve obviously got to do well with them. We’ve got a senior-laden backline, Drew Williams and Issac Lewis have been back there for three years now. They’re going to do the job. I have every bit of confidence about it. We’ve talked out some things tactically and I’m pretty confident in what they’re able to do.”
Where UHS may have the upper hand is momentum. Both Nett and Jones logged hat tricks in their win at Brooke on Saturday, and it wasn’t a matter of the Hawks playing a weak team – the Bruins held a 16-1-2 record heading into regionals. The shutout is in a consecutive line of postseason games where UHS has never yielded a goal to opponents in regulation, a streak that started last year in sectionals with a 1-0 win over Morgantown. Smith hopes that streak holds up.
“Riley and J.M. have brought leadership [to the team] first and foremost – that’s two of our three captains. In every sense of the word, they’ve been strong as could be. They’ve had to fill different roles throughout the year, even mid-game. They’ve done it with the best attitude. Mid-season, when we changed formation, roles changed for them. They learned to play another way, and I tell you what, the last couple of weeks they’ve been playing off of each other and doing really well. It’s been beautiful to see that relationship on the field develop as well as it has.
“I love Riley and J.M. to death, but [I’ve got] to give a shoutout to the defense. I don’t think a lot of people realize this but when we lost to GW two years ago in the state semis, that’s the last goal this team has given up in the postseason. Between the defensive backline and Timmy Bailey, they’ve done such a great job. If we’re able to accomplish anything in Beckley this weekend, that’s going to be the biggest key.”
And what’s Bailey going to tell himself and his team before and, likely, during the game?
“We’ve just got to stay compact and stay very disciplined,” Bailey said. “Everyone’s going to have to bring their best game. There’s no time to slouch until the tournament is over – you’ve just got to work as hard as possible.”
But there is a problem. It has nothing to with UHS, CMHS or even No. 1 George Washington. Rather, it involves a temporary restraining order a member of the Martinsburg girls’ soccer program has filed to try and postpone the triple-A state tournament.
First reported by Rick Kozlowski of the Martinsburg Journal, Martinsburg senior Emily Beck filed the order on behalf of the boys’ and girls’ teams from each of the four Berkeley County schools: Martinsburg, Musselman, Spring Mills and Hedgesville. The reason for the suit stemmed from the county’s orange designation ranging over the last week and a half, taking all four schools out of the Region II sectional and regional tournaments. Further, Martinsburg was the top seed in both the boys’ and girls’ sectional tournaments and was unable to contend with Jefferson’s teams who both made the state bracket.
“In the suit filed before Judge Bridget Cohee of the 23rd Judicial Circuit Court, Beck, represented by her father, attorney Barry Beck, contends that testing for the coronavirus takes place in an unequitable [sic] way throughout the state of West Virginia and that some counties are given more opportunities to get tested than what is available to people in Berkeley County,” Kozlowski wrote. “In the suit, beside a temporary restraining order to half the state tournament, Emily Beck wants ‘the Court then grant an injunction against the WVSSAC, prohibiting it from proceeding with the state AAA girls and boys soccer playoffs and tournament until after access to free COVID-19 testing has been made available to residents of Berkeley County in a manner equal to residence of other counties in the state, or, in the alternative, until the WVSSAC adjusts the criteria for participation in secondary school activities to account for the disparity in public access to free COVID-19 testing between Berkeley County and other counties in the state.’”
Cohee recused herself, thus the hearing was scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday and put in front of Judge R. Steven Redding. No ruling had been announced at the time of this story publishing. An update will follow on The Dominion Post website.
Still, despite not knowing if his team would play just a few days before they were scheduled to drive to Beckley, Smith was hoping the process didn’t change this close to crunch time.
“I know as much as anybody else,” he said. “It would be a shame because we bent over backward to help Buckhannon-Upshur in our section, there have been other sections all over the state trying and, boy, would it be a shame to change the rules now. But it’s out of our hands.”
Bailey sees it in another light. While no one wants the rules to change, should the postponement happen, he sees it as an opportunity for another set of practices.
“They can do whatever they want, it’s just another week to practice and get better. There’s nothing that will slow us down, I think we’re on the right track. If they postpone, it’s whatever, it’s not going to slow us down.”
First kick is scheduled for noon on Friday at Cline Field.
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