At some point in Saturday's state championship match with Hurricane, Woodrow Wilson's Tyler Snyder might look toward the small grass soccer fields at the YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Soccer Complex and think back.
That's the place where it all began, the starting point on a road that led less than 100 yards to where Snyder's high school career will end Saturday.
No. 2 seed Woodrow Wilson (17-2-2) meets No. 1 Hurricane (19-0-3) in the Class AAA state championship game at Paul Cline Stadium. Hurricane beat Woodrow 2-0 at Paul Cline in August in the season opener.
"I started when I was 3, 4 years old, YMCA (program), on the little ones, the grass ones (fields) right over there," Snyder said, pointing to the adjacent smaller fields that dot the facility after the Flying Eagles' 3-2 overtime win against Wheeling Park in the semifinals Thursday. "It was a little hard to sleep last night, you know. I was thinking about it. Dang, I 've been playing soccer all these years. And we came out with the win."
Snyder, a senior, is known for being an assist man for the Flying Eagles, a master of the corner kick, and leads the team with 15. He also has four goals for the Flying Eagles.
But to teammates and coaches, he is also respected for compromising his body for the sake of the team.
And the victory against Wheeling Park was a perfect example of his attitude on the pitch.
In what was a physical, old-school-type of match, Snyder took a shot to the liver and had to be helped off the field, but soon returned to action.
He caught a cramp late but never left the field, stretching it out himself and staying in the action.
His knees bore the brunt of his never-surrender attitude.
"He will literally lay it on the line until the very last minute and he did that all game long," said veteran Woodrow Wilson coach Steve Laraba. "Sometimes he gives the hit and sometimes he takes the hit, and he tends to recover from it pretty well and get back in and create more havoc."
"That's what he does every single day," said leading goal scorer Coby Dillon, a benefactor of many of Snyder's assists. "With that it provides so many more chances. The goal I scored (vs. Wheeling Park), he put his body on the line. Plays like that will win a state championship."
Snyder is no stranger to tough play, having represented the area in regional and national travel events, where a more physical style is common.
"But this was definitely one of them," he said when asked if Thursday's match was the most physical in which he has played.
One of three captains on the team, along with fellow seniors A.J. Bishop, who scored the winning goal, and Michael Fayiah, who had the assist on that goal, Snyder culled those experiences together and led the team by example. That experience told him that it was going to be hard work.
"It's been hard work, it's been since August," Snyder said. "We said it was going to be tough going through, we got through and we're here now. This game was very big. I preached to the team at halftime, 'Do we want it more than them or not?' We just had to keep going."
The championship match kicks off at 10:30 a.m. at Paul Cline Stadium.
It is Woodrow Wilson's first appearance in the title game since winning it all in 2010.
Dillon leads the Flying Eagles with 18 goals this season, Ali Farghaly has 14 and Hagen Hall 11.
Woodrow has 14 shutouts, including three in the postseason, a salute to keeper Bryson Doss and the Flying Eagles defense.
When Woodrow won the championship in 2010 it outscored opponents 9-2. This year's team has outscored the opposition 11-2.
Hurricane, like Woodrow, has a top-flight defense, and has given up just 10 goals all season. The Redskins gave up more than one goal just once, to South Charleston in a tie.
Payton Gum leads the Redskins with 25 goals and 10 assists. Harris Coulter, who had a goal in the opener against Woodrow Wilson, and Jack Willis have 12 goals and Landon Stonestreet, who had the other goal in the first match between the teams, has 11.
Hurricane has 102 goals this season. Woodrow has 73.
For Snyder, he's going out where he started and achieved a goal at the same time.
"It means a lot, it's my senior year and I've been wanting to do this since my freshman year," Snyder said. "Always try to get to the next step and get to the next game."
Saturday's championship game is the last game.
Not far from the spot of his first game.