Southside beats Gray Collegiate 3-0 to win AAAA boys soccer state championship
Tigers' Erik Martinez scores two second-half goals to spur victory
Columbia -- With a second-half scoring burst, the Southside High School boys soccer team pulled ahead of Gray Collegiate Academy and earned the first state championship in the school’s history.
Head coach Luis Koronya said after the Tigers’ 3-0 victory on Friday at Memorial Stadium that “It won’t be the last.
“It’s amazing. It’s something that we cannot believe,” Koronya said. “I’m pretty sure that the school, the students, they’re going to see what we did and they’re going to try to be (champions).”
Southside (18-1) and Gray Collegiate (22-8) battled to a scoreless stalemate in the first half. Six minutes into the second half, the Tigers’ leading scorer Erik Martinez found himself open with the ball about 20 yards from the goal. Martinez struck. His shot hit on the right side of the net and put his team on the scoreboard.
At the 48th minute Martinez found the ball again on roughly the same route. He angled a shot to the left of goalkeeper Charlie Petroff to give Southside a 2-0 lead.
“In the first half we were nervous. We were scared to come out and play our game,” Martinez said. “We didn’t know anything about the other team, really. Our coaches in the locker room gave us a very emotional speech and we came out very strong as a family and a team in the second half.”
Eleven minutes later, Adriel Rodriguez got a third shot in the back of the net. Over the next 20 minutes all that was left for the Tigers was to deflect all attacks. The defense, led by goalkeeper Edwin Bastida, held all of them off.
“Scared, as scared as possible,” Bastida said about the late onslaught. “I was telling my defenders to kick the ball out. I don’t even care if I have to. If they even get close, just kick the ball out. I love my defenders, I love how they protect my goal, They gave it their best and I love them.”
Gray Collegiate made 10 shots on goal, but as Bastida said, a loose net of defenders deflected most of the breaks and shots, and the junior goalkeeper came up with seven saves, four of them coming in the final minutes.
War Eagles head coach Kevin Heise said he expected Southside to make a quick score after halftime.
"We said the first five minutes were going to be critical, and you know, I think we eclipsed the 5-minute mark and in the sixth minute they scored,” he said. “That’s how that game was won, whoever could have gotten something early in the half, and that’s kind of been their MO watching them on film this week.”
Friday was the Gray Collegiate boys’ fourth state final appearance in the past five years. The War Eagles fell to Bishop England in the lower state final last year.
Heise has led Gray Collegiate to the state championship game seven times, but the War Eagles have yet to win the final game.
“Going into the year I think if someone would have said this team was going to the state championship game, we would all sign up for it,” Heise said. “I don’t think anybody had that in mind when the season started. We were hoping to win our region and make a good representation there, and see where the postseason would go.”
The War Eagles got off to a 3-4 start, but Heise said the team came together by mid-March and were riding a 7-game winning streak going into Friday’s match.
“This group came a long way. Unfortunately we didn’t see some of that identity (tonight),” he said. “We were a fun team to watch in the last six weeks of the season. Tonight, though, we weren’t. Give Southside credit for that. That’s why they’re 18-1 with their only loss to Powdersville (27-1; beat Oceanside Collegiate 6-1 for the AAA championship Friday). This team has had special years, but sometimes you’ve just got to give credit where credit is due.”
Kuronya gives credit to his athletes for playing hard and playing smart.
“I’m really happy with the students because you know what, in the Greenville County School District we have like 45 schools, and the most improved GPA was the soccer team,” he said. “The most important thing for me is that we already won with our students. They are better as a team. They know what they need to do and they work together. I’m really proud that they’re the state champions.”
