East Fairmont girls soccer holds clinic for North Marion in Regional Championship game

FAIRMONT — When a team has won 66 straight games and back-to-back state championships, you might not feel like there is much they can do to earn a ‘statement win.’But it certainly felt like the East Fairmont Bees were doing everything in their power to make a statement against the North Marion Huskies during Wednesday night's Class AAA Region I Final.And when the Bees emerged with a 10-0 mercy-rule win with over 28 minutes left to play in the game, that statement was definitely heard loud and clear.“We wanted to come out and maybe make a little bit of a statement moving forward,” East Fairmont head coach Eric Wright said. “Everything they put together — we had a game plan coming in, and I couldn't have been more pleased with how they played.”“They talk a lot, because we're rivals, and we just wanted to come out here and see if we could beat them better than we beat them before,” junior Lily Larnerd said.The Bees scored their first goal within the first few minutes of action, and from there, it was an onslaught. East would pile on eight goals by halftime, and close out the game quickly once play resumed for the second half. Nine of their 10 goals came on assists.“It takes teamwork,” Wright said. “You can't have one or two people come out and accomplish that. We even had two assists come from our back line. We talked about looking for opportunities, because it can't all come the same way.”“When we scored that first goal, we all started to get some energy, we started bringing each other together, we were happy,” Larnerd said. “It was just fun.”Now, the Bees have collected their 67th consecutive win as a program, and will head to the AAA State Tournament in Beckley needing just two more wins to cap the season with their third consecutive state championship. And they'll have a lot of momentum in their favor after such a dominant victory.“It feels great, because it feels like we just played one of the best games we have played, and the motivation just leads into the practices so we can be prepared for the tournament,” Larnerd said.“It does give us confidence,” Wright said. “We know how to make every play we need to make in a game, we just have to make sure we're consistent with it. Over the last two to three weeks, our competition has really stepped up, and it's forced us to play better soccer.”