ELLISTON, Va. (WFXR) — It is not easy winning a state championship – let alone three straight Class 1 titles. The Eastern Montgomery girls soccer team faced adversity while making their return to the state finals this year.
“You know every single one of those girls have played us three times already this season and they know what to expect they kind of knew how to work around our strengths and they made it hard for us. I’m actually proud of both teams for stepping up and for mine for persevering at the very end,” said Eastern Montgomery head girls soccer coach Whittney Shaver.
The Mustangs finished the season undefeated – but it was an uphill battle just to get back to the state championship game. “We have a lot of new players. We have some that we brought on two weeks ago. They finished up their softball season and we had an injury and then we were down to 10 and that wasn’t our best game as a team. But it’s the captains and coach and we have our community and our whole thing is just to stay positive and to keep on going. That we don’t need a hero we just need to play as a team. Not one person has to score the winning goal. We just want to get it done,” said Eastern Montgomery senior forward Madison Bruce.
It took three overtime periods but the Mustangs got the job done – they defeated Auburn 2-1 – on a last minute goal from Eastern Montgomery junior forward Aija McHone. “We play and we just go at it so there’s not really a mindset because we’ve all played with each other so long and I feel like all of us we can speak to each other on the field without verbally saying it and that’s all we really care about and we’re all really good friends and we all hang out together and play together,” said Eastern Montgomery junior forward Aija McHone.
Even with all of the struggles and sacrifices during the season – Eastern Montgomery head girls soccer coach Whittney Shaver said making it back to the finals isn’t something her and the Mustangs took for granted.
“It’s never an expectation. It’s never given to us we have to work for it. Those girls have worked their whole lives for this not just at high school level they work in the weight rooms they work on their own and they work at practice and every team has to do that is they want to be successful,” said Shaver.
