By Mike Maltais
The Liberty Bell High School varsity girls’ soccer team put together a winning week on the road and at home with wins over Entiat, 6-3, Bridgeport, 6-1, and Omak, 2-0, last week.
Entiat stalls
The Lady Lions battled inclement weather as well as the home field disadvantage at Entiat on Sept. 23, but powered past repeated comebacks by the Tigers.
Freshman Corrine Dietz opened the scoring early with an assist from Danielle Mott, but Entiat came back to tie the game later in the first period.
Liberty Bell dominated the possession through the remaining first half with scores by Mia Kennedy off an Ava Mott feed, an unassisted goal by Aden Jones, and a penalty kick by Kennedy. Entiat rebounded in the second half to close within one point before Kennedy hammered home another goal for her third point of the day, and freshman forward Sally Thornton-White closed the door with a goal off a pass from freshman midfielder Hannah Hogness.
Bridgeport falls
The visiting Bridgeport Fillies were ridden hard and put up wet by Liberty Bell, which kept its league rivals on the defensive during much of a 6-1 league game that found the Lady Lions scoring first, frequently, and finally, last Thursday (Sept. 25).
Forward Dietz got the Lady Lions on the scoreboard with two goals in the first period off Kennedy assists. The Fillies managed to sandwich a score between Dietz one and Dietz two that, with the exception of a few more shots on goal, was the total of their offensive output.
Not taking any chances, Kennedy added a goal of her own later in the first period to give Liberty Bell a 3-1 halftime lead.
Early in the second half, a shot blocked by Bridgeport’s goalkeeper, Sarah Rios, went Ava Mott’s way so the eighth-grade midfielder completed the effort with her first varsity score.
Riding a 4-1 lead, coach Lincoln Post found an opportunity to substitute some of his newer players.
“When I have confidence that we are controlling the game I like to give our new players a chance to get on-field experience at the positions they have been coached in practice,” Post said, citing in particular the outside midfielder slot.
“The nature of that position has the player running to cover a lot of field on defense and offense so she tires quickly,” he said.
The coach also made a few changes in his 3-5-2 defender-midfielder-striker lineup, moving ninth-grade center defensive back Haley Post up to the striker position and eight-grade defender Cailin Chandler to Post’s center back slot.
Post lost little time seizing her chance to score with an unassisted bullet past Fillies’ defender Samantha Martinez and into the net for her first point of the season.
Bridgeport lost another opportunity to score later in the half when goalkeeper Lauren Ochoa fell on a Fillies’ ball before Bridgeport forward Denise Hernandez could press the advantage.
Jones iced the game for Liberty Bell when she arced a Kennedy assist near the left field boundary over the head of Bridgeport’s keeper and into the right corner of the net with about two minutes left to play.
Omak zeros out
It was a little different story at Omak where the Lady Lions, while dominating the game on possession and control, encountered stronger opposition at the defensive and goalkeeper positions. However, Liberty Bell took full advantage of limited scoring opportunities to strike twice in the first half and nurse that 2-0 lead to the final whistle.
Mott found the net early in the first period thanks to an assist from Thornton-White. A short time later freshman Hannah Weymuller stripped an Omak defender of the ball and hammered it over the head of the keeper for her first point of the season.
A pleased coach Post noted that less than midway through the season his team already has eight players who have scored goals for the Lady Lions.
Liberty Bell was on the road at Oroville on Tuesday (Sept. 30) and will host 4-0 Okanogan at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday (Oct. 2).
