On Saturday, Oct. 17, fans of the boys soccer team pulled up to Mapfre Stadium, home of the Columbus Crew, for the Bison’s last regular-season game.

Players and fans were filled with excitement.

Before the game, team members ran around the field and took pictures to capture the unique moment. In the stands, Beachwood and Twinsburg fans cheered their respective teams.

Although the game was very competitive, resulting in a 0-0 tie, the comradery between Beachwood’s head coach, Brian Greene, and Twinsburg’s coach Mike Lally is what made the game a reality.

“The Twinsburg coach is my best friend, and we play every year for the last game of the season,” Greene said. “We decided that [playing at the Crew stadium] would be a great experience for the players.”

Specifically, the coach and players saw this game as an opportunity to visualize the State Finals, as that game also takes place at Mapfre stadium.

As he played, Junior Yuval Zamir kept the team’s goal of making it to states in mind.

“We got to see what we missed out on last year by not making it to the State Finals,” he said. “Hopefully we will make it to states this year and have another opportunity to play in Columbus again.”

Coach Greene had a similar mentality; he wanted the team to visualize playing in the State Finals.

“I think visualization is a big mental component of performance,” he shared.

Additionally, the game instilled confidence in the players, according to Zamir.

“After this experience, I am very confident going into the playoffs,” he shared. “We have proven that we can compete with any team if we play together and play how we have been playing all season.”

The last time many players and fans were in the stadium, they were watching the Columbus Crew play Toronto FC over the summer.

The team and coaches worked together to sell tickets to this July game. Greene explained that because the team agreed to sell 200 tickets to the Crew game, there was no charge to play on the field.

Zamir’s favorite part of the experience is playing on the same field as many professional players.

“We got to play on the same field as players such as Pirlo, Lampard and many others,” he said.

This game was also groundbreaking for the team because junior captain Asaf Roth finally made his way back into the game. After his absence due to hip surgery, he is happy to be back with his team.

“Playing in the crew stadium was a great experience,” he said. “I’m super excited to be back playing and ready for playoffs to start.”

The first playoff game will be at home tomorrow at 4:30 against the Grand Valley Mustangs.