Knights end first season in 2-A ranks with state title game loss
HIGH POINT – Despite an excellent first half, the Greenfield School boys soccer team fell short in a 3-1 loss to Gaston Day in the NCISAA 2-A state championship game at Westchester Country Day on Saturday.
The Knights (18-4-1) of the 2-A/3-A Coastal Plain Independents Conference took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but ceded three goals to the Spartans (16-2) of the Metrolina Conference in the second half.
“I don’t even know if it really went wrong,” said Greenfield head coach Justin Wilkinson. “They’re a really good team. They have some really good players. We did really well in the first half of going at them, taking chances and things like that. And then, when the second half rolled around, I think they wanted to sit back a little further. Maybe that was the downfall, wanting to play more defensive when they were putting that pressure on us the whole time.”
The Knights wasted no time taking a 1-0 lead, striking about 30 seconds into the game. After Greenfield played a ball over the top – as has often been the Knights’ strategy early in games, Jo-Willem Tewes played a ball through the Spartans back line to Landyn Coolbaugh, who buried it for the 1-0 lead.
That advantage was one the Knights managed to take into the break, as they played the game they wanted to in the opening 40 minutes.
“For the first half, I feel like we really jumped on them early,” said Greenfield senior Nathan Lozevski. “From the very first second, we started moving the ball. We just wanted to win the game so badly. When we got that first goal, we felt like we were on top of the world. We came out with so much energy and passion. We were working so hard defensively, and everyone was covering for one another. So the first half went spectacular. It was the best first half we could have had.”
In the second half, however, things began to unravel. The Spartans struck twice on Knights defensive miscues to take a 2-1 lead, prompting Wilkinson to switch to a 3-5-2 formation to generate more offense.
Gaston Day capped the scoring on what Wilkinson called a spectacular shot from the outside.
“The second half, however, I felt like we kind of fatigued ourselves with all the pressure that we were acclimating ourselves to,” Lozevski said. “After we went up 1-0, they started pressuring us more and more. Eventually, we cracked and they scored on us. After that goal, we fell flat, but nonetheless I feel like we all gave our best effort in both halves. But, in the second half, I feel like we just wore ourselves out due to all the defensive pressure that we were enduring.”
The Spartans outshot the Knights 16-7, and Nick Wester was stellar in goal, coming up with 11 saves.
“He’s had a rough time,” Wilkinson said. “No one believed in him for a little bit. I always told him, ‘You got this, you can do this.’ His two years he’s been playing, he’s made it to the state finals both times and proved why he should be there. He definitely proved it tonight for putting up 11 saves. None of the goals were his fault at all. He was fantastic.”
While the season did not end the way Greenfield hoped in the program’s 24th state championship game Saturday, there’s still plenty for the Knights to be proud of.
In their first season in the 2-A ranks, the Knights won 18 games, won the CPIC going away and advanced to the state championship game for the second year in a row.
“The fact that we even made it to the 2-A final is spectacular in itself,” Lozevski said. “Honestly, if you told me in the very beginning of the season that we would make the 2-A final, I wouldn’t have believed you. This is so spectacular with what we’ve accomplished to even get to that point in the season. … The fact that we had the chance to win it all and we were only 40 minutes away from being 2-A state champions is something that everyone on our team is so proud of to have accomplished.”
Saturday’s game marked the end of the Greenfield soccer careers of Lozevski, Tewes, Matt Kirby, Bryson Wall, Nick Wester, Hanson Ngo, Veer Patel, Porter Wells, Lee Powell and Harrison Batchelor.
Wilkinson, who is in his second year as the Greenfield varsity head coach, coached the junior varsity team before that and has gotten to watch his senior class grow from the start of their careers.
“They all started to develop and find their own style of play,” Wilkinson said. “Seeing some of those guys step into a leadership role where it’s weird seeing them younger and it’s like ‘I don’t know if it will ever happen,’ and then they actually do and it’s like ‘Wow, I can’t believe the maturity and the way they present themselves on the field and around the players.’”
“They’re trying to build what was taught to them and show it to the younger players like Landyn Coolbaugh, Grayson Coulter and Noah Wright. It’s something that those guys are going to be like ‘Hey, I gotta be like that guy next year.’ It’s the building steps for each of them, and knowing what they can do and help out for the future of the team. It’s really cool. They’re such a good group and such a different group in how much that I love them. They’re my first group, and it’s so sad to see them go. It’s not the result that we want, but they just accomplished so much this year and I love that about them.”
The outgoing players, in their turn, reflected on what their time in the Knights’ program meant to them.
“It meant the absolute world to me,” Lozevski said. “For everyone who’s been supporting me these past five years on varsity soccer, it has been my most fun journey in high school yet. All the coaches, all of my teammates, my parents, everyone involved who has helped get me to the point where I can even talk about this now is just truly a blessing for me.”
HIGH POINT – Despite an excellent first half, the Greenfield School boys soccer team fell short in a 3-1 loss to Gaston Day in the NCISAA 2-A state championship game at Westchester Country Day on Saturday.
The Knights (18-4-1) of the 2-A/3-A Coastal Plain Independents Conference took a 1-0 lead into halftime, but ceded three goals to the Spartans (16-2) of the Metrolina Conference in the second half.
“I don’t even know if it really went wrong,” said Greenfield head coach Justin Wilkinson. “They’re a really good team. They have some really good players. We did really well in the first half of going at them, taking chances and things like that. And then, when the second half rolled around, I think they wanted to sit back a little further. Maybe that was the downfall, wanting to play more defensive when they were putting that pressure on us the whole time.”
The Knights wasted no time taking a 1-0 lead, striking about 30 seconds into the game. After Greenfield played a ball over the top – as has often been the Knights’ strategy early in games, Jo-Willem Tewes played a ball through the Spartans back line to Landyn Coolbaugh, who buried it for the 1-0 lead.
That advantage was one the Knights managed to take into the break, as they played the game they wanted to in the opening 40 minutes.
“For the first half, I feel like we really jumped on them early,” said Greenfield senior Nathan Lozevski. “From the very first second, we started moving the ball. We just wanted to win the game so badly. When we got that first goal, we felt like we were on top of the world. We came out with so much energy and passion. We were working so hard defensively, and everyone was covering for one another. So the first half went spectacular. It was the best first half we could have had.”
In the second half, however, things began to unravel. The Spartans struck twice on Knights defensive miscues to take a 2-1 lead, prompting Wilkinson to switch to a 3-5-2 formation to generate more offense.
Gaston Day capped the scoring on what Wilkinson called a spectacular shot from the outside.
“The second half, however, I felt like we kind of fatigued ourselves with all the pressure that we were acclimating ourselves to,” Lozevski said. “After we went up 1-0, they started pressuring us more and more. Eventually, we cracked and they scored on us. After that goal, we fell flat, but nonetheless I feel like we all gave our best effort in both halves. But, in the second half, I feel like we just wore ourselves out due to all the defensive pressure that we were enduring.”
The Spartans outshot the Knights 16-7, and Nick Wester was stellar in goal, coming up with 11 saves.
“He’s had a rough time,” Wilkinson said. “No one believed in him for a little bit. I always told him, ‘You got this, you can do this.’ His two years he’s been playing, he’s made it to the state finals both times and proved why he should be there. He definitely proved it tonight for putting up 11 saves. None of the goals were his fault at all. He was fantastic.”
While the season did not end the way Greenfield hoped in the program’s 24th state championship game Saturday, there’s still plenty for the Knights to be proud of.
In their first season in the 2-A ranks, the Knights won 18 games, won the CPIC going away and advanced to the state championship game for the second year in a row.
“The fact that we even made it to the 2-A final is spectacular in itself,” Lozevski said. “Honestly, if you told me in the very beginning of the season that we would make the 2-A final, I wouldn’t have believed you. This is so spectacular with what we’ve accomplished to even get to that point in the season. … The fact that we had the chance to win it all and we were only 40 minutes away from being 2-A state champions is something that everyone on our team is so proud of to have accomplished.”
Saturday’s game marked the end of the Greenfield soccer careers of Lozevski, Tewes, Matt Kirby, Bryson Wall, Nick Wester, Hanson Ngo, Veer Patel, Porter Wells, Lee Powell and Harrison Batchelor.
Wilkinson, who is in his second year as the Greenfield varsity head coach, coached the junior varsity team before that and has gotten to watch his senior class grow from the start of their careers.
“They all started to develop and find their own style of play,” Wilkinson said. “Seeing some of those guys step into a leadership role where it’s weird seeing them younger and it’s like ‘I don’t know if it will ever happen,’ and then they actually do and it’s like ‘Wow, I can’t believe the maturity and the way they present themselves on the field and around the players.’”
“They’re trying to build what was taught to them and show it to the younger players like Landyn Coolbaugh, Grayson Coulter and Noah Wright. It’s something that those guys are going to be like ‘Hey, I gotta be like that guy next year.’ It’s the building steps for each of them, and knowing what they can do and help out for the future of the team. It’s really cool. They’re such a good group and such a different group in how much that I love them. They’re my first group, and it’s so sad to see them go. It’s not the result that we want, but they just accomplished so much this year and I love that about them.”
The outgoing players, in their turn, reflected on what their time in the Knights’ program meant to them.
“It meant the absolute world to me,” Lozevski said. “For everyone who’s been supporting me these past five years on varsity soccer, it has been my most fun journey in high school yet. All the coaches, all of my teammates, my parents, everyone involved who has helped get me to the point where I can even talk about this now is just truly a blessing for me.”