Sebastian Kar celebrated after scoring a goal against Omak.
After a challenging season when they sometimes found it difficult to score goals, the Liberty Bell High School boys’ soccer team put together a three-game winning streak over five days in recent play.
It was nearly a four-game streak, but the Mountain Lions were edged in overtime by visiting Bridgeport, 3-2, on April 17. Liberty Bell led off the scoring with a goal by Kohl Simmons, and held a 1-0 halftime lead. In the second half, Bridgeport tied things up but then Liberty Bell regained the lead on a goal by Cade Quigley. Bridgeport managed to find the net again, and regular time ended in a 2-2 tie, sending the match into sudden-death overtime. Bridgeport won with a goal near the end of the 5-minute extra time.
On April 19, Liberty Bell locked up in dramatic, extended game at Manson that went into multiple penalty kicks before the Mountain Lions prevailed, 2-1. Regular time deadlocked at 1-1, and the teams played to a stalemate in two 5-minute overtimes. The outcome was then dependent on who would convert the most penalty shots.
But even that wasn’t enough to settle things, as each team scored three times out of five attempts in the first round. The next step: sudden death penalty kicks. Neither team yielded, and the penalty kick scored mounted to 7-7 before an unlikely hero — Simon Studen, the Liberty Bell goalkeeper — scored to make it 8-7 and a Mountain Lion win.
On Saturday (April 21), Liberty Bell notched a 3-nil home pitch victory over Omak. Sebastian Kar struck for two goals, and Josh Dinham added the third.
Again at home on Monday (April 23), the Mountain Lions held Oroville at bay by a 3-1 margin, with goals by Simmons, Sebastian Kar and Travis Grialou.
Monday’s game was also Senior Night. Honored were Sage McFetridge, Eden Davis, Cade Quigley and Josh Dinham.
Liberty Bell plays at Brewster on Thursday (April 26), travels to Omak on Saturday (April 28) and finishes the regular season at Tonasket on Tuesday (May 1).
