Liberty Bell’s Maisy Shaw, No. 19, scored a goal against Omak as Josephine Cole, No. 11, was also active at the net.
The Liberty Bell High School girls’ soccer team started its season with two matches against larger 1A schools, and despite mixed results coach Lincoln Post said he is pleased with the Lady Lions’ progress.
On its home pitch, Liberty Bell lost its opener to Chelan, 3-2, in a shoot-out on Sept. 10, then dominated visiting Omak 3-0 on Sept. 12.
“The team is off to a really good start to the season,” Post said. “The two non-league games were so helpful in learning how to move and support each other on the field under pressure.”
“We have been field testing the players in different positions to try to find our strongest tactical formations,” Post continued. “For example we had three different keepers in goal against Chelan: McKenna Kurtz, Chloe Sprauer and Tommie Ochoa.”
The game against Chelan was even throughout and the teams were tied 2-2 after regular time. “Maisy Shaw and Josephine Cole were our goal scorers in regular time,” Post said. “We elected to go to overtime and a shootout as practice for the season ahead.”
Ochoa, Wyatt Albright and Megan Voigt scored on kicks in the shootout. Ochoa also made two saves, but Chelan scored 4-3 in the shootout to win the match.
“We learned a lot from our match with Chelan that we were able to apply to our match against Omak,” Post said. “This team has a great focus and fast learning curve. What we pride ourselves in is playing as a whole team.”
Against Omak, the Lady Lions controlled the play and kept the Lady Pioneers away from the Liberty Bell goal, where Ochoa had to defend only a handful of shots. Cole scored twice and Shaw once for the Lady Lions.
“Ali Palm had a standout performance as our center midfielder, and Megan Voigt had an excellent game as our center defense,” Post said. “The whole team was communicating and playing really well and it showed such improvement from our first match against Chelan.”
Liberty Bell traveled to Bridgeport on Tuesday (Sept. 17) and will host Manson on Thursday (Sept. 19), starting at 4:30 p.m.
