Greenbrier East gave up a late first half goal and George Washington added two in the second half as the Patriots beat the Spartans 3-0 in the Class AAA Region 3 championship Thursday at Paul Cline Stadium.
Greenbrier East, which won its first Class AAA Region 3 Section 2 title since 2019 last week, finished the season 10-8-2.
Shelby Tharp scored an unassisted goal – she had the lone goal I a 1-0 George Washington – in a regular season win – with 4:47 left in the first half to give the Patriots a 1-0 half-time lead.
“We kind of overplayed (George Washington striker) Deryn (Doamekpor) at that point and I told the girls that was my fault,” Greenbrier East coach Mike Dotson said. “We didn’t shift over quick enough because we didn’t want to leave Deryn alone. Those two (Tharp and Doamekpor) are tough up front.”
In the second Ellie Pray added a goal on a fortunate bounce and Doamekpor added another three minutes later to complete the scoring.
On the first goal of the second half the ball bounded over the head of the East keeper and Pray snuck in behind her to punch it in for an insurance goal.
It was still a successful season as the Spartans won the sectional for the first time in four years.
“We almost took (the sectional championships of the past) for granted for years because we won it (so many times) ,” Dotson said. “Then we realized it was hard to get. This section is strong. Any time you go out you. an lose. So I told the seniors you passed this down to the juniors, sophomores and freshman. We had two played all the minutes tonight. A couple of them subbed back in. We see a bright future with that group.”
