Greenbrier girls soccer was pushed to its limit during its 3-2 victory over Pope in the GHSA Class 5A state semifinal game. The match was like a heavyweight boxing bout; punch, counterpunch. And for many players on the team, it was their first taste of true adversity deep into a postseason.
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“I’ve never been so nervous in my life,” one underclassman on Greenbrier said during a stoppage of play to her teammates. When she said that, a handful of upperclassmen came over to give her a hug, letting her know that the team had her back and that they were ready for the moment.
Those sentiments from those upperclassmen weren’t just typical actions of encouragement. They came from a place of confidence and experience, stemming not from soccer, but from flag football. Last fall, nine members of the current soccer team helped the Wolfpack win their third straight state championship in flag football.
And with many of those players being major contributors on this soccer team, this may be the best shot Greenbrier has had to go all the way since 2023 when they fell short in the state title game. They’ll face Chamblee on Wednesday, May 13 at Duluth High School. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.
“It’s given them a real sense of calm and preparedness,” Rob Husted, Greenbrier girls soccer head coach, said. “The lights aren’t too big, the game is not too big, the moment is not too big, because they’ve done it three times in a row.”
Out of the nine players from the flag football team, three of them are seniors. From that group, only Aaliyah Silver was on the 2023 soccer squad that suffered a 9-0 defeat against Chamblee in the state championship. That loss not only denied the program its first ever state championship, it also ended a bid for an undefeated season.
Since then, Greenbrier soccer has made it to the quarterfinals and semifinals before making it to the championship game this season. During that same span, Silver and the other seniors were learning what it takes to be state champions on the football field.
“I'm gonna say hard work and dedication,” Silver said. “I feel like setbacks are gonna happen in the game, and you just have to overcome the setbacks, like that happened in the state championship game, but we overcame the setbacks, and we're just gonna have to do that again.”
Silver, who’s leading the team in goals scored with 19, also led the flag football team this past season in receiving yards and was second in total touchdowns. Murphy Larkin, a freshman on the soccer team, also played on the flag football squad this year. While she didn’t get much playing time on the football field, she’s played an invaluable role as starting goalie for the Wolfpack.
She had a game-clinching swat in the quarterfinals against Lassiter and had a number of deflections in the semifinals to help stave off a comeback from Pope. As a freshman, one can make an argument that she’s been the most valuable player for the Wolfpack this postseason. Part of that is her undeniable skill. The other part of it is the confidence that she has been given by her teammates, particularly the ones she’s bonded with in flag football.
“Some of the younger girls are nervous being with all the older girls,” Larkin said. “But with me, I had the experience with them on flag. We’re already connected, and then we’re connected for soccer now too, which helps when it comes to the field too.”
Having players come from flag football makes Husted’s job as a coach easier. He doesn’t need to focus heavily on conditioning as heavily coming into the season, nor does he need to worry heavily about a lack of communication on the field.
Even for the players that weren’t on that flag football team, they still have been able to reap the benefits of their teammates' success from the football field. Freshman Talashia Harris has found comfort in the confidence of the upperclassmen who played flag football.
“They have this mentality like no matter what, if we’re down, we’re winning,” Harris said. “They never give up, and it just motivates me to be like them and just to work hard no matter what it is.”
Despite all the confidence the team has, there’s still a level of pressure that’s permeated the Wolfpack locker room. They’d be the first Columbia County public school squad to win a girls soccer state championship. With Greenbrier facing Chamblee once again, it would be an opportunity to avenge the 2023 title game loss. And for the senior core, it’ll be their last shot in their high school careers to hoist a championship trophy.
There’s arguably more on the line for this game than there was for any player on the team. Husted, though, has faith his team can pull this one out. Not only is he confident from watching his team’s resilience during this playoff run, but he also knows the experience from the players from flag football will be an x-factor for them in the title game.
“Last year’s [flag football] championship game, it was a dogfight. It wasn’t a walkover game. That’s invaluable,” Husted said. “In soccer, we got hammered, and then the next three years [they] did it in football. Let’s bring that same mentality from football back to the soccer field, and let’s go get ours.”
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Greenbrier girls soccer leans on flag football for state title game