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Wheeling Park’s Hanna named state’s girls soccer player of the year

WHEELING — When it comes to the 2020 Wheeling Park girls soccer team, the year could be described as one of destiny. The Patriots came into the year losing 12 seniors from last year’s team as well as not knowing if they would be able to play a full season.

However, senior Graceylyn Hanna and the Patriots made a year with so many questions, a year that they will not soon forget. Hanna, a four-year player for the Patriots, also accumulated 15 goals and dished out 27 assists on the year.

One of her goals came in the most important game of the year for Wheeling Park. Her free kick in the 14th minute of the Class AAA state championship was all that was needed and it gave the Patriots a 1-0 victory over Parkersburg South to claim the hardware.

With her efforts, Hanna was named West Virginia Girls Player of the Year as voted by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

Hanna will be honored at the 74th Victory Awards Dinner which will be May 23 at the Embassy Suites in Charleston.

Reece Enochs (Oak Glen), Lindsay Carr (Charleston Catholic), Ava Hall (Winfield) and Emma Dotson (Greenbrier East) were also considered for the award.

“I think it’s an incredible honor,” Hanna said. “I just kept saying I wanted to end my senior year perfectly and leave a legacy behind for the younger girls to follow. I couldn’t be more honored. This is really neat to have all that support from everyone. I really appreciate it. It’s really great.”

With triumph, comes heartbreak. And Hanna did experience it during her earlier years at Wheeling Park. In 2018, Wheeling Park fell in a 4-3 shootout to Hurricane in the state championship.

Last year, the Patriots deemed to be one of the favorites to win the whole thing suffered a gut-wrenching setback Morgantown in the regional final. It was their second loss of the season, both to the Mohigans.

This season, also had the huge obstacles to overcome with the Coronavirus pandemic. However, Hanna, being a senior leader, came into the year with much optimism and motivation as well as some of the newcomers.

“That definitely was a tough loss and it was hard for the seniors to go like that,” Hanna said. “But, in the end, I think everything happens for a reason and it made the younger girls, especially the younger sisters of those seniors that came in this year really want it bad. They wanted to avenge their sisters. I think it made us hungrier to win this year and I know with COVID it has been difficult for a lot of events to occur. There was instances where we had some girls quarantine, like in the regional final. I just kept saying, we are going to get through this. We were going to win so they could come back and play with us in the state finals. That’s exactly what they did.”

In that regional final, Hanna was ready to roll the moment she woke up and got on the bus. From there, she was there to get her teammates motivated. Traveling to Brooke High School for the game, Wheeling Park was set to face Bridgeport, a team the Patriots fell to earlier in the year.

Hanna already had the outcome in her mind. She was confident enough to tell her team

“I knew it was going to be a tough game. We lost to them 2-1. I was really pumped up for that game,” Hanna said. “I even told the team, ‘This is my fourth year playing and we’re going to win 4-0.’ I told them this.”

And sure enough, Wheeling Park claimed the West Virginia Class AAA Region One title, 4-0. Hanna tallied two goals — both coming off free kicks — and dished out an assist to supply the Wheeling Park offense.

“My coach (Wheeling Park coach Carrie Hanna) told me and she always does a great job of telling me what to do and I do it. She told me to just look up to see where the keeper is, focus back on the ball and put it where you want it. Both of those free kicks, I put the ball exactly where I wanted them. It couldn’t have been better. It was amazing. After the game, I said to my team, ‘I told you guys. We won 4-0. We got two more games until we’re state champions.’ I wanted to make sure my teammates believed. And they did.”

Graceylyn tallied an assist in the state semifinal game against George Washington. Her one final big moment of her high school career, though, came against Parkersburg South in the state championship game.

Knowing her team had to score early, the senior was able to put the cherry on top of her storybook career. With a free kick given to her Hanna made sure she did not let the opportunity slip away.

“That game we definitely knew was going to be a tough one,” Graceylyn said. “We previously lost to them (Parkersburg South) 2-0. When we came in we did a tactical session of what we needed to do. We focused on us and what we can do instead of the other team. I think my team perfected their roles just like we talked about. I knew it was going to be a tough game. The keeper (Kendal Mader), she was amazing. She made some very good saves on me. I knew that all we needed was one to win. When I lined up for that kick, I just knew that it was going to be the one to win in. And when I took the kick, I didn’t even look up. I just started to run and celebrate and then I saw it in the back of the net. My whole team came rushing in. Right then, I knew this game was ours.”

And like many other times this year, she was right. The game went to Wheeling Park with a 1-0 victory. With everything the Patriots went through during 2020, it certainly was a storybook ending for Graceylyn. With all the adversity her team went through from not being able to play in the OVAC tournament to being told the news that the state tournament was delayed via a temporary restraining order issued by Berkeley County Circuit Judge R. Steven Redding on their way to Beckley.

But Graceylyn kept a positive mindset even when they received the news. She kept her composure and stayed true to her leadership role.

“All the adversity that went through the season. But with every adversity, we had the right mental attitude and the right outlook,” Coach Hanna said. “She was a huge part of that. She was always such a positive mindset and always understood, you had to go through a champion to be a champion. She wanted to play the best teams and just led a very young team to believe. I can’t say enough about Gracey’s ability to be a team player.”

Coach Hanna is also the mother of Graceylyn. Playing for her mother for four years, it was only fitting for Graceylyn to win the final game of the season under her mother’s wing. And, again, Graceylyn will be the first to tell you, she knew it was going to happen. And when it did, it was a moment their family will be talking about for the rest of their lives. Not just family of blood, but family of sisterhood as well.

“After (the loss to Hurricane in the state championship in 2018), I told her that we’d be back and we were going to win. My sister (freshman Lily Hanna) also got to come in this year and I kind of knew we have all three Hannas now, so nothing can stop us,” Graceylyn said. “We had sisters of the former seniors and our team just kept growing together and we were a true family. It was really incredible to win that state championship with my mom. It was a really special moment because we worked so hard for that together for the past four years. As (Coach Hanna) has taught me, I can do so many things and she really makes you believe in yourself. She knows what you’re capable of. Having her as a mom, being there supporting me and guiding me in the right direction, it was a really special moment between us. We finally did it after all that hard work. I’m just so thankful for her. I couldn’t have asked for a better coach for my high school career or my life.”

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