The Liberty Bell High School girls’ soccer team begins its quest for another berth in the 2B state championships with at least two and possibly three games this week and next.
A 4-0 win over Lake Roosevelt in the final regular season game on Oct. 29 gave the Lady Lions a 10-2 record in league play (11-4 overall), finishing a solid second to undefeated Tonasket. Josephine Cole scored three goals on her birthday in the Lake Roosevelt match, and Tommy Ochoa netted the other goal for the Lady Lions.
By taking second place, Liberty Bell earned a bye in the first round of the league championships and moved directly to the league semifinals, where they faced Brewster on Tuesday (Nov. 5) at Mountain Lion Stadium.
Brewster, third in league play, defeated sixth-place Manson, 4-0, in the loser-out round on Nov. 2 to move into the semifinals and another shot at the Lady Lions. Liberty Bell defeated Brewster twice during regular season play, 1-0 and 2-1.
The winner of Tuesday’s Liberty Bell-Brewster game goes into the league championship final on Thursday (Nov. 7). The loser of the Tuesday match has at least one more game, and a chance to play for third place, also on Thursday.
The league champ will move automatically to the state championship round of eight, to be played on Nov. 14-16. The second-place finisher in the league championship game, and the league’s third-place finisher in the tournament, both move to the District 6/7 Glue Crossovers on Nov. 9 and will still have a chance to make it to state as one of two representatives from District 6, or as a representative for District 7.
The 2B semifinals and finals will be in Sumner on Nov. 22-23. Liberty Bell made that trip last year, and suffered its only two losses of the season to finish fourth.