Cambridge Boys Soccer Team Defeats Greenbrier; Advances to GHSA Tournament Elite 8

Posted: May 09, 2017

The Cambridge Bears Boys Soccer team advanced to the Elite 8 Wednesday night, May 3rd. It was a very physical game for 80 minutes that ended in a 4-3 win for the Bears over Greenbrier. For the second year in a row, the Bears find themselves fighting for a final 4 berth in the State Tournament

Also for a second year in a row in the sweet 16 game, Diego Zarate made a game saving play with his defensive skills and further earned his name as "The Terminator." Diego, who was in beast mode all night, got back into the net when goalie Mitch Hardgrove came out to make a save. The ball ricocheted off of Hardgrove's hands to a Greenbrier player, who took a hard shot only to have Zarate head the ball out; saving what would have been the equalizer for Greenbrier with only 15 minutes left to play in the game.

Josh Winnett, a teammate of Diego's for the last 4 years at the varsity level, said "Diego's header saved our lives and our season. Because of plays like that we are able to survive and advance. And that's what it's all about... Survive and advance."

Zarate commented, "I think that we had a great first half, but didn't have the best performance in the second half. Thankfully, we were able to support each other through the tough moments of the game. Glad we won and now we have to prepare for the next opponent."

The Bears scoring on the night was provided by the scoring tag team of John Crawley and Jabar Obeid who both finished twice on the night, accounting for all four goals. Crawley also had an assist on the night to Obeid to put the Bears up 2-0. Ethan Rose had the assist on the first goal of the night with a gorgeous throw to Crawley in the box for the score. Sid Marupudi also had an assist just before the half to Crawley who got the header; finishing for the second time on the night and giving the Bears a 3-1 lead at the half. Jabar Obeid completed the scoring on the night in the 2nd half when he took advantage off a side post ricochet.

Bears head coach Bryan Wallace said after the game " My heart can't take many more of these type of games". After the Bears hung a 3-1 lead on Greenbrier at the half and a 4-1 lead early into the second half, the Bears found the score at 4-3 with 20:15 remaining in the game. "They got after us in the second half so this is a good lesson for us to have learned.", said Wallace.

The Bears travel to Dalton on Saturday, May 6th for an afternoon matinee game that starts at 1:00pm. Dalton is ranked #1 in the state and #2 nationally. The Bears will be trying to advance to the final 4 for the first time ever.