First-year GW boys soccer coach guides Eagles to a 5-0 start

Backup goalie Joseph Cambell came off the field terribly distraught after surrendering the first goal of the game midway through the first half against Martinsville.
“Sit down. Take it easy,” George Washington coach Brandon Lewis told the freshman, making room on the bench next to him while attempting to calm his player.

Lewis held his senior goaltender out up to that point as a penalty for arriving late, but the coach didn’t make the switch because of that goal — he was about to do it anyway. Lewis is still very much feeling things out. He hasn’t even been on the team as long as the freshmen have, in fact, and has taken over a squad used to turnover at the top.

Lewis is the third GW boys’ head soccer coach since the start of last season. The 29-year-old Danville native and art teacher at Langston Focus School was a volunteer assistant coach with the GW girls’ program before the most recent boys’ coach took a job elsewhere less than two weeks before the start of the season.

All the laid-back lifelong soccer player has done is help lead the GW boys to an undefeated start, including a 3-2 come-from-behind victory against Martinsville on Thursday night in Danville. Lewis stood proudly on the sidelines as his players mobbed each other after Jacob Russell tied the game in the 76th minute and scored the game-winner in injury time.

“He’s done a good job and he seems to have a good rapport with the students and parents,” GW Athletics Director Reid Taylor said about the new coach. “We may have fallen into a pretty good situation with him.”

Lewis is a GW graduate who earned his degree at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia before returning to teach in the school district last year. He’s been playing soccer and hockey since he was 5 years old, he said, and coaches a U12 boys’ team comprised of players from North Carolina, Pittsylvania County and Danville.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Lewis said about taking over the high school’s varsity boys team. “Other than the anxiety … I’m used to coaching the young ones. This is something that I wanted probably three years from now, and it kind of opened up and I didn’t want the opportunity to slip away so I took it.”

What Lewis has going for him is the maturity of his players and the chemistry they have with one another. Many have played together since they were little kids, play for traveling teams and have succeeded on the field — to an extent — despite the instability at the high school head coaching position. GW finished tied for second in the Western Valley District last season.

“It is a group that has been playing with each other since they were young, so it’s been easy,” Lewis said, admitting that there’s a bet in place where if GW wins the district title, he’ll let the boys cut off his shoulder-length brown ponytail. “I’m not trying to change the system that they run, I’m not trying to change … It’s a well-oiled machine right now, and I’m not trying to screw anything up.”

“I’m just glad we’re going to have someone that’s going to be here for a while now. It’s nice to have some stability,” Russell said after scoring twice in the final minutes against Martinsville. “He’s a lot more relaxed than our last coach and we’re playing a lot looser… we’re just stepping up and playing well.”

GW (5-0) responded twice to Martinsville (3-2-1) taking the lead on Thursday and is the only team to score against the Bulldogs this season. Cabell Maddux scored shortly after intermission to tie the game at 1-1, and although Martinsville retook the lead with a successful penalty kick minutes later, the Eagles managed to knot the game again in the waning moments of regulation.

Russell redirected a crossing feed from Drew Whitt in the 76th minute, and the senior struck again by burying a feed from Carter Bauman for the game-winner in injury time. Russell’s teammates piled on as the referee blew the whistle — ending the game and keeping GW’s undefeated season intact.

As for Cambell, the freshman goalie who got a taste of action early before leaving the game angry at himself for surrendering the first goal? He got in on the celebration, as well.

“He’s a little inexperienced at this level and we don’t like to throw him in there to the wolves,” Lewis said, “which he’s had plenty of this year. But he’s doing great.”

Just like his coach.

George Washington 3, Martinsville 2GW           0 3 –  3
Martinsville 1 1 –  2
First half: Quamaine Giles (M) from Robbie Armbrister, 21st minute.
Second half: Cabell Maddux (G) from Newton Ray, 44th minute; Brennan Murphy (M) PK, 50th minute; Jacob Russell (G) from Drew Whitt, 76th minute; Jacob Russell (G) from Carter Bauman, injury time.
Shots: GW 16-8
Corners: GW 8-3
Saves: Martinsville 11 (William Reynolds), GW 7 (Joseph Cambell, Ryan Russell).