BRENTWOOD,CA --- In the past decade, Freedom had not gone 4-0 to begin league play, but that all changed on Thursday night as Freedom defeated the reigning North Coast Section Division I champion, Liberty, 2-1.
Kaytlin Brinkman has had an MVP caliber season so far, and with six minutes left in the game she came through as clutch as a third pedal, and scored the game winning goal for Freedom.
As the final whistle blew, it solidified another milestone for the Falcons, as it is the first time in five years that they took down Liberty. None of the players on the current team were in high school when that happened.
“I feel like I'm on top of the world,” Brinkman said. “When we play Liberty it's always a big game, and most of the times we go in nervous thinking that they the ’top dogs’ but we felt confident out there and gave it our 110 percent.”
In the first half, Liberty had five shots on goal, and did not get one goal in.
As opposed, Freedom’s lone shot late in the first half resulted in a Izzy Midgley goal.
“It didn't feel real at all,” Midgley said. “Once I scored and realized we were in it, were winning, it was such an amazing feeling.”
They cruised into halftime with confidence, but ten minutes into the second half, Kylie Zentner rifled after a rebound to equalize the game at one goal a piece.
Liberty almost tied the game up on a corner kick set piece, but the ball was stopped in the line by a Freedom defender.
Brianna O’Dell made some big saves for the Falcons, and has only allowed two goals in three games for Freedom. Head coach Matt Oliveri also adds that Kylie Schneider and Amaya Martinez have attributed to such a strong defense.
“We always work hard on our defensive shape,” Oliveri said.
Around the BVAL
Deer Valley's girls are now on a two game winning streak after defeating Pittsburg, 6-0.
Heritage's girls bounced back after a tough loss to Liberty by shutting out Antioch. Jenae Packard scored a pair of goals. Alex Diaz scored the other on an assist by Cheryl Salgado.
Pittsburg's boys defeated Deer Valley 5-0, where Andres Perez scored in his season debut after sitting out the first part of the season.
Skylar Henry scored two goals in Heritage’s 3-2 victory over Antioch. Elias Orocio also added a goal in the match.
A pair of freshmen shined in Freedom’s 4-2 victory over Liberty. Alberto Padilla and Osvaldo De La Cruz scored, while Alberto’s brother Martin Padilla also scored, along with Jorge Rondan.
