Junior captain Anja Merkens celebrated her goal in the second half to break the scoreless tie.
Junior midfielder Anja Merkens’ goal broke a nil-nil tie early in the second half and Liberty Bell High School went on to defeat the Tonasket Tigers, 3-0, in a league match on the Mountain Lions’ home pitch on Sept. 15.
Sophomore Skye Boley tallied her first career varsity goal to make the score 2-0 and senior Taylor Hover added a late insurance goal, also the first of her career, to clinch the win and get the Mountain Lions off to a 1-0 start in Central Washington B league play.
The tone of the game was like historical role play reversal. In recent years, Tonasket has always been a tough match-up for the Mountain Lions with a gritty, physically aggressive style of play. This Mountain Lion team seemed to turn the tables.
Playing a more assertive, attacking style led to several whistles and a player yellow card for multiple contact fouls. It was a contest where, even in the scoreless first half, Liberty Bell was controlling the tempo and field position for much of the period.
“We seem to have changed,” noted head coach Kelly Grayum, “from a team that was worried about bad things that might happen to wanting to make good things happen. It’s a mentality change, really. They’ve found that forcing the action is a way they have found to be on the front foot and make those good things happen.”
In spite of being in control in the first half, Grayum observed that the girls were still a bit timid on the offensive end, not taking advantage of several opportunities. “Something switched at halftime,” noted Grayum. “It almost seemed like they came out a different team.”
Grayum pointed to the defensive end of the field as also being a key to the win over Tonasket. “They have some really good players on their team, but they only have 12 on their roster,” Grayum said of Tonasket. “We were able to just overwhelm them with our numbers.”
The Mountain Lions were active on the substitution rotation and kept fresh legs out on the pitch for most of the game.
“Clara Ramsey-George, Wiley Smith, Taylor Hover, Allie Hovee and Lucia Troyer all did a great job keeping the ball out of the goal and preserving the shutout,” Grayum pointed out.
It was on to Chelan for a non-league match with the Goats last Thursday where the girls battled to a 1-1 draw. The Caribou Trail and Central Washington B leagues agreed to non-overtime interleague contests this year.
After another 0-0 tie at halftime, the Mountain Lions finally scored in the 71st minute of the match, Cassidy Pattison finding the net off a pass from Taylor Hover to take a 1-0 lead. Chelan’s score came on a last-minute, disputed handball call, inside the Liberty Bell goal box, resulting in a penalty kick score for the home team to knot the score.
The Mountain Lions had time for one last rush up the field. Pattison launched a shot that missed wide of the goal and that was that.
The week advanced the Mountain Lion overall season record to 2-2-1. They are 1-0 in league play and currently third in the points standings for the CWB.
The Mountain Lions traveled to Omak on Tuesday. They have another road game at an always high-quality Cascade (Leavenworth) on Thursday and follow that this coming Saturday with a home match against Manson. Kickoff is at 11 a.m.
