Noel Diaz scored Greer's winning goal with 11:18 remaining to give the Yellow Jackets their first state playoff win in school history.
Jorge Santos, coach of the Greer Yellow Jackets, said his team started slowly but finished strong in eliminating York from the state playoffs.
Might as well add freshman Noel Diaz to the trivia quiz as he scored the winning goal for the Yellow Jackets tonight with 11:18 left in the game for a 3-2 first round state playoff victory. Greer will play Walhalla Thursday night at 7 in a second round game.
Darius Newman, a junior, scored two goals to pull the Yellow Jackets into a tie after York took abbreviated leads of 1-0 and 2-1.
“We started off flat but we finished extremely strong,” Greer coach Jorge Santos said. “We’ve only been down five times this year. (York’s) first two goals could have been stopped.”
Diaz scored the game-winning goal on a shot that found the right corner of the net. “When I was passed the ball it hit the edge of my foot. I turned and no one was there. The kick felt great,” Diaz said.
Newman said he knew Greer had to answer York’s goals. “I knew I had to score to get us back in it,” Newman said. “On the first goal when I saw green I kicked it. The second goal was in the middle, took a pass, turned and kicked it.”
Newman said he followed Santos’ advice. “Coach said whenever you don’t see a goalie, kick it.”
Greer’s Islam Istanboli did not play because of a concussion suffered in a game.
York had three yellow cards in the second half and tried to bait Diaz into a confrontation with less than a minute remaining. Santos stationed Diaz half a field away from the ball until time expired.