By Mike Maltais
The Liberty Bell High School varsity girls’ soccer team is returning to the state championship playoffs for the third consecutive year on the strength of an inspiring 1-0 win over the Central Washington B League champion Okanogan Bulldogs in a regional loser-out showdown last Saturday (Nov. 15).
In the end, even a double-overtime tie followed by a best-of-five shootout wasn’t enough to determine whether the Lady Lions or Okanogan would advance to meet Friday Harbor at Sunset Stadium in Sumner on Friday (Nov. 21).
The head-to-head match held at the Central Valley Sports Complex in Okanogan came down to a sudden-death decider after the shootout left both teams knotted at four goals apiece. It was the sixth penalty kick by Corinne Dietz and follow-up save by goalkeeper Lauren Ochoa that gave Liberty Bell the 1-0 victory.
Meeting for the fourth time this season in the course of regular and post-season play, the Lady Lions and Bulldogs brought the two best goalkeepers in the league back onto the pitch: Okanogan’s CWB All-League First Team pick, senior Cameron Moses, and Liberty Bell’s Ochoa, voted to the All-League Second Team.
The teams met in clear and cold 30-degree weather but the heat from the regional rivalry was almost palpable as the Lady Lions and Bulldogs waged a running physical battle from end-to-end and sideline-to-sideline across the frozen field.
The bigger Bulldogs tried to use their size and speed to overpower their opponents and slam the door on Liberty Bell’s final-four hopes with a regulation-time win similar to their 3-0 shutout the last time both teams met. The Lady Lions came to play, however, and matched force with force on both ends of the pitch.
Coach Lincoln Post witnessed that firsthand in the play of eighth grader Sally Thornton-White.
“She went shoulder-to-shoulder with Okanogan’s biggest player and rode her all the way across the field and out of bounds,” Post recalled. “That showed the team that even though we were smaller we could hold our own and that gave the team confidence.”
That was one of the key moments in the game in Post’s opinion, and went along with others that kept Okanogan from scoring.
Freshman right defender Stella Gunnip Hunter provided another.
Gunnip Hunter “made a game-saving move when she cleared the ball off the line just in front of the goal,” Post said. “The ball had gotten by Ochoa and Stella came sweeping behind her to deflect it.”
Time after time, defenders Gunnip Hunter, Anna Post and Haley Post stopped Okanogan drives that approached the net. During one of the five-minute overtimes, Haley Post took a double shot to the side of the face from both a Bulldog and a goal-bound ball as she leaped to deflect a corner kick.
Shootout decides it
After both teams failed to score in regulation and double overtime despite several close calls at both goals, the penalty kick phase came into play.
Okanogan substituted the taller Jill Townsend in place of Moses for the shootout.
Mia Kennedy was first up for Liberty Bell and, in typical fashion, scored the first penalty point. Ochoa blocked Okanogan’s first kick and it looked for a moment as though the contest was all but over.
However, after Tabitha Bergevin-Krumme, Anna Post and Aden Jones all scored consecutive goals, the Bulldogs answered in kind, giving Liberty Bell a 4-3 lead going into the final round. Eighth-grader Cailin Chandler took the fifth kick for the Lady Lions.
“I usually kick toward the left side,” Chandler said. “But she dived early to the left so I shot to the right. The ball brushed the goalpost and went out.”
Trailing by a goal, Townsend took the fifth shot for Okanogan and scored to make it 4-4.
“In the best-of-five shootout we have to designate our first five kickers and we can’t use them after that,” Post said.
Enter freshman forward Dietz for the first sudden-death attempt. Dietz slammed the ball solidly into the right corner to give Liberty Bell a 5-4 lead.
Okanogan’s sixth kicker booted the ball at Ochoa, but high, and the All-Leaguer grabbed it out of the air — along with a ticket to the final four this weekend.
Dietz leaped into Ochoa’s arms as the keeper ran to join her celebrating teammates.
The Lady Lions depart for Sumner on Thursday (Nov. 20) at 11 a.m. They will meet the Friday Harbor Wolverines at 4 p.m. on Friday (Nov. 21), following the game between Crosspoint Academy and Adna.
The Wolverines ended their season at the top of the Northwest district with a regular season 11-1 record. They lost to Bremerton’s Crosspoint, 5-0, on Nov. 8, and defeated Brewster, 2-0, on Nov. 15, on their road to the final four. Friday Harbor will bring a 22-girl roster comprised of eight seniors, two juniors, 10 sophomores and two freshmen. In contrast, the Lady Lions will field a 19-player roster made up of five seniors, one junior, two sophomores, eight freshmen and three eighth graders.
“It will be their confidence in each other and as a team that will make the difference for us,” Post said of the game ahead.
Win or lose, the Lady Lions will play again Saturday (Nov. 22). The first game at 10 a.m. will determine third and fourth place at state. The championship final will get underway at 2 p.m.
