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SEAMAN — Let’s go back to 2012, quickly.
Barack Obama was re-elected as the nation’s president, LeBron James just won his first NBA championship, Urban Meyer was completing his first season at Ohio State and Lynchburg-Clay didn’t win the SHAC in boys soccer.
Things have certainly changed since.
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA
Fast forward 12 years later and two different presidents have taken office, James has won four titles, Meyer stepped down, went to Jacksonville and got fired after 15 games, and the Mustangs (11-3-2, 7-0-1 SHAC) have been reigning supreme atop the SHAC.
The Mustangs will now put another number on the banner after a 3-0 victory over North Adams on Monday to claim yet another SHAC title.
“When you come into the program as a freshman, you hear the seniors talking about playing for a Gold Ball. That’s always the goal, and it’s been that way for the last decade,” Lynchburg-Clay coach Jason West said. “It’s a transitional thing and there’s a lot of pride that goes into it. We try to get the guys to understand that every SHAC game we play, we have a huge target on our back because every team wants to be the one to knock us off.
“The league has improved so much over the last four years. Eastern Brown is much-improved, Peebles has been consistent, West Union is getting a lot better as well. So it’s definitely nice to see everyone getting better by the year. But in the end, you still have to beat us to get the conference title and our kids are proud that they get another trophy.”
Coming into the game, North Adams (11-2-2, 6-1 SHAC) hadn’t lost since its season opener and had only given up seven goals all year long.
PHOTOS: Images from Lynchburg’s win over North Adams
That didn’t seem to matter.
The Mustangs finished in a three-way tie with North Adams and Fayetteville atop the standings in 2023. That memory remained heavy on their minds, and they approached Monday with a different mentality.
“Thinking about last year, we had one game left and we came in really lackadaisical [against Fayetteville]. They got one on us early and we didn’t make the comeback,” Lynchburg-Clay’s Braedon West said. “We were a lot more focused this time around and prepared really hard, knowing what was on the line.”
Lynchburg owned the only shot attempt in the opening minutes of the game, but controlled the pace with possession. Eventually, they found the net when Braedon West sent a laser past the keeper for a 1-0 lead.
“Honestly, I was in the right space at the right time,” West said. “We pushed the ball up really well and worked it inside to outside like we’re supposed to. [North Adams] defended it pretty well, but I kept moving up the field with the strikers, played it back centrally, and happened to put it in the back of the net.”
Towards the end of the first half, LC created more distance when Mason Fisher took a shot. Off a ricochet from the goalie’s hands, he struck and connected on a goal to make it 2-0 at halftime.
At that point, the game was well in hand.
The Mustangs’ defense wasn’t giving the Green Devils any area to string passes together, played every 50-50 ball masterfully and kept their foot on the gas.
But, just for good measure, LC added another goal in a cluster of white jerseys with 10 minutes to go, putting the cherry on top of another conference title win.
“One thing that certainly helped was us not stabbing at the ball. We waited for them to make a move and kept them in front of us,” Lynchburg-Clay’s JJ Massey said. “We kept moving them towards the line instead of stabbing and letting them lead into the middle for a shot. Altogether, as a defense, I thought we held our line up very well.”
Lynchburg-Clay returns to action on Thursday at home against Western Brown, while North Adams aims to rebound that same evening at Valley.
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