BRENTWOOD — Last year, Madison Del Prado sat in the stands, watching her future school compete for a Bay Valley Athletic League title.
Now as a freshman, she’s making monumental plays. And Saturday night, in the North Coast Section Division I quarterfinals against Berkeley was no exception.
Del Prado’s right foot blast in double over time was the golden goal, punching Liberty’s ticket to the section semifinals.
“It felt unreal. I just wanted to score all game, and I finally got it,” said Del Prado. “We knew we were going to get it. We just kept pushing and we finally got it.”
Much like Liberty and Berkeley’s clash earlier in the season, this match was a low scoring one, with only one shot on goal in the first half.
“I thought that Berkeley had a heck of the game,” Liberty head coach Tony Martins said. “We’re fortunate to be on the winning side of such a good game.”
In the second half, Liberty held a majority of the possession of the ball, but there was one huge obstacle ahead of them to finding the back of the net - Yellowjacket junior keeper Leah Freeman, a University of Oregon commit.
In the second half alone, she recorded four saves, two of them coming in the last ten minutes. Most noticeably, she made a fingertip save that forced the ball to ricochet off the crossbar, then landed back into the possession of Freeman, who cradled it on the turf.
“That’s what a Division I goalkeeper looks like,” Martins said.
A winner could not be found in regulation, so the game moved to a golden goal overtime, where Del Prado made the magic happen.
“It was a big relief. After regulation there wasn’t too much adjusting. It was about keeping our team together and playing hard for one another. They needed to believe in each other that it was going to come.”
Liberty will play Carondelet in the semifinals on Wednesday, Feb. 20. The Cougars defeated Clayton Valley, 2-0, in their quarterfinal game. Senior keeper Angelina Anderson was outstanding in front of the net for Carondelet in its win on Saturday night, recording six saves to preserve the clean sheet.
The last time these teams played against each other was in the 2017 NCS DI championship, which resulted in a 3-2 victory for the Lions.
“It means everything to not only me but to all of us. As a senior, it is the last ride for me. Continuing to go farther and farther with this team will let me along with the other seniors leave on a high note,” said Liberty captain Tatiana Elsea.
Around the NCS
Senior Hannah Deljkic scored the lone goal in Monte Vista's 1-0 win over Granada on Saturday night in the Division I quarterfinals, off an assist from Lily Arbabaraghi. The Mustangs will now face San Ramon Valley, after the Wolves downed California on penalty kicks.
Fifth-seed Tamalpais had suffered a loss and a draw at the hands of MCAL foe Redwood, heading into this year's playoffs. But on Saturday, the Red-Tailed Hawks stormed to a 3-0 victory, advancing them to the Division II semifinals against top seed Livermore, which blanked Las Lomas, 2-0. Mikayla Linn, Ellie Ryserson and Lauren Ross all scored in the first 19 minutes of the match against the Giants to reverse the earlier trend.
Northgate routed Casa Grande in the bottom half of the Division II bracket, 6-1. Natalie LaRue had a hat trick in the win for the Broncos, who advance to face Montgomery in a rematch of a regular season game won by the second-seeded Vikings.
