By Mike Maltais
With their first practice less than a week away and their first game on Sept. 6, the Liberty Bell High School varsity soccer girls have a new face — Lincoln Post — signing on as the team’s head coach this year.
Post, who coached the Liberty Bell boys’ soccer team to an 11-5 season last spring, assumes the helm of a strong girls’ soccer program from predecessors Mike Wilson, Erik Olsen and Lucas Budrow, who guided the Lady Lions to their best finish ever, third place at state in 2013, and their fifth consecutive Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Academic State Championship.
The Lady Lions finished their regular season at 7 – 2 last fall before defeating the Adna Pirates, 5 – 4, in a double-overtime shootout at the state playoffs to earn the third-place trophy behind champion Bear Creek and runner-up Crosspoint Academy.
The team lost five seniors — Estrella Corrigan, Tulie Budiselich, Hannah Hafsos, Dawn smith and Kathleen Chavey-Reynaud — to graduation last June but has an experienced core of young players familiar with the pressure of state competition.
Post will face a larger and more formidable lineup of opponents in the Central Washington 2B North division this year with the addition of Okanogan, Tonasket and Brewster joining familiar rivals Oroville, Bridgeport and Manson.
The Lady Lions will have a quick introduction to league play following their debut at the Okanogan Jamboree on Sept. 6. Liberty Bell will play the Bears at Brewster on Sept. 11 and host their first league opponent, Manson, on Sept. 16.
The team will play a total of 16 games during the regular season, 12 of those league contests. Non-league games will include two against Omak, and one apiece against Entiat and Chelan.
