The Liberty High girls soccer team kept knocking and knocking on the door in the first half of the North Coast Section Division I championship match on Saturday afternoon, but couldn’t break through.
Apparently, the Lions made enough dents in the levy to burst the dam, doing so early in the second half.
Trailing 1-0 at halftime, but nearly equalizing a few times before the half, it was after the intermission when a slough of goals came, three to be exact, and they needed all of them, holding on to beat Carondelet 3-2 to claim their second title in three years.
“It’s just as gratifying,” Liberty coach Tony Martins said. “This group, the last four years has won four league titles and two NCS titles. (The seniors) definitely took it upon themselves, but this was a complete team effort.”
The aforementioned seniors are 10 players, who have been a big part of this program for four years, and just put an exclamation point on their careers.
“We have a saying, to leave no doubt,” Liberty senior Devyn Gilfoy said. “We have a plaque in our shed that says ‘leave no doubt’ and we tap it before each game. We wanted to make sure we left no doubt.”
And after scoring three goals in short order, if felt like there was no doubt.
“We were playing well in the first half, but we knew we just had to keep pressing and it would come,” Liberty senior Delanie Sheehan said. “This feels just as gratifying, I can’t imagine it feeling better.”
The Cougars struck first, doing so immediately after the opening whistle as Cassidy Tshimbalanga pulled the ball out of a scramble in front of the net after a corner kick, giving Carondelet the early lead.
Liberty nearly equalized before half, specifically when Delanie Sheehan’s free kick hit the post, but the Cougars lead stood until the second half started.
The Lions had three goals come in quick succession, all of them in five minutes, taking control of a match they had trailed just minutes before.
Gilfoy scored the first goal, just 55 seconds into the second half on a free kick. The other two came on long throw-ins, just two minutes apart. The first one, Gilfoy flicked on to Sheehan, who put it away, and then Gilfoy scored the third on Robyn McCarthy’s throw-in.
The Cougars did not go away easily, and instead made it interesting for the final 25 minutes. Ellie Ospeck pulled back a pass to Tshimbalanga who finished for her second goal.
Elle Ray was called on to protect the lead as Ellie Ospeck hit a ball with her left foot that Ray was able to come out on in time to deflect away, and then Erin Ospeck had a crack at the near post in the 71st minute, but Ray had it covered.
