Augusta Prep boys soccer looking to reach first state final in 29 years
With a trip to the GIAA Class 2A championship on the line, Augusta Prep boys soccer is ready to show the work it has put in.
In the three seasons since Jeff McLarnon took over as head coach of the Augusta Prep boys soccer team, they’ve steadily improved to become one of the top teams in GIAA’s Class 2A. The Cavaliers' record of 11-3 to this point is their best mark during that span. Now, a trip to their first state championship game since 1997 is in reach as they are set to host Holy Spirit in the semifinals on Saturday, May 23 at 6 p.
m. “We knew three seasons ago stuff wasn’t going to happen overnight,” McLarnon said, “but actually this season is an accumulation of three seasons [of] a very young group coming together and starting to buy into working hard as a team. ” This will be the Cavaliers' first Final Four appearance in the McLarnon era.
His first go at it was during the 2024-25 season where his squad went 6-6 and got bounced in the first round. The following year the team improved to 10-5 before advancing to the quarterfinals and losing in a one-score game. Coming into this season, McLarnon had an inkling that his team would learn from that loss and be better from it.
But he had to see it to believe it first. To do so, he scheduled games early in the season against Lakeside and Johns Creek. According to McLarnon, those games against bigger, more established programs were ones that they were “not supposed to win,” but were instead litmus tests for the team.