At this point of the season, Levan Zhividze says he needs every one of his teammates to “bring it.” His teammate and partner in scoring provided the perfect example for the level of effort it takes to succeed at state.
Elijah Lavin received the ball outside the 18-yard box and was taken to the ground by a defender in the 46th minute of Saturday afternoon’s 2-1 state qualifying win.
At that point the game was scoreless, and a second — even a third — effort by Lavin to pick himself off the ground faster than the defense and poke the ball past the goalkeeper was exactly what Zhividze, the team’s leading goal scorer and co-captain, wanted to see.
“He stayed with it, got hit, fell down and finished it and that’s what we need,” Zhividze said.
Evergreen defeated Capital in a district elimination game at McKenzie Stadium, and by doing so, punched its return ticket to the 3A state tournament — the team’s second trip in four years.
Zhividze, who scored the second goal, was a freshman the last time the Plainsmen made it state. Now the senior is leading the team with 22 goals on the season, and his fellow forward, Lavin, isn’t far behind with 18.
The two may be among the top –if not the top — scoring duo in the state. And they’ll have a chance to showcase that acumen next Wednesday when the team competes among the final 16 teams.
Neither will gloat about it, but they’ll tell you they are looking forward to making their mark.
“I don’t know who else (is out there), but (we’re) pretty good,” Zhividze said.
After a scoreless first half, Evergreen took to attacking more. Coach Keenan Burris saw that Capital sat back and waited to counter-attack in the first half, so the Plainsmen pushed more white and green jerseys into the center of the field after halftime.
That adjustment proved savvy.
After Lavin’s early second half goal, the Plainsmen weren’t done.
In the 56th minute, sophomore Saul Castaneda was sent in the air, and completely flipped onto his back, when Capital goalkeeper Carson Collard slid out to contest a breakaway.
The collision resulted in a yellow card for the goalkeeper, and a penalty kick for the Plainsmen.
Zhividze put away the penalty kick in the upper right corner to put Evergreen up 2-0.
Capital scored with 11 minutes left, but the Plainsmen held on.
But not before Lavin, who tweaked an ankle during the process of scoring his goal, rolled the other one severely enough to have a coach and trainer carry him off the field.
That won’t stop Lavin from competing in state.
With the same mindset it took to score his second effort goal — “I decided to run through everything,” he said — the sophomore hopes to help propel his team on a deep run.
EVERGREEN 2, CAPITAL 1
Evergreen
Goals (assists) — Elijah Lavin, Levan Zhividze (penalty kick); Goalkeeper saves — Gabe Domingo.
Halftime — 0-0.
