Liberty gets job done
Lions avenge loss, beat South Carroll, 17-7, for regional title
The Liberty girls lacrosse team has been to the top. The Lions, last year’s Class 1A state champion, tasted success once, but once is not enough.
Armed with the knowledge of how to play at a championship level, Liberty is ready for another run. It crossed the first hurdle toward a repeat, winning the 1A West Region I title Monday by defeating top-seeded South Carroll, 17-7.
“I think going last year gives us an advantage because we know what it takes to get there,” junior Ally Pond said. “Obviously, that’s our end goal but we know we have to play every single game like it’s a state championship game.”
Pond led all scorers with seven goals, a total she said she doesn’t remember scoring in a game before Monday.
“I definitely wanted to come out and have a good start,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d have that good of a start, but it’s a pleasant surprise.”
Pond led Liberty to the fast start it seeked. She scored the first goal 67 seconds into the game, and Taylor Jendrek followed with the first of her three goals less than a minute later. Pond struck again for a quick 3-0 lead.
“We always want to come out strong and be able to keep it strong throughout the whole game,” Jendrek said. “I think we did really well in doing that and keeping that intensity and keeping the hypeness the entire game.”
Riley Matthiesen assisted on two of the first three goals, finishing the day with five assists to go with two goals.
“We wouldn’t score half the goals we do without all our key players on offense making good plays with the ball,” Pond said. “Assists are just as important as well, it’s a very important part of the game. If we’re not moving the ball around, we know we’re not being as effective as we can be.”
Senior captain Val Thompson, who had three goals and two assists Monday, said the more Lions that can touch the ball, the more the team’s versatility comes to light.
“There’s a lot of players on our team that have so much potential, but if they don’t see the ball, they’re never going to be able to score or assists,” she said. “We have a lot of players that are versatile and can make a lot of plays.”
Caroline Laur got South Carroll on the board with the first of her five goals. However, Liberty responded with four straight tallies and five of the next six to take an 8-2 halftime lead.
The game was a stark contrast from their regular-season meeting, which South Carroll won, 11-10, on April 19.
“This game, we really looked at film and saw what we needed to adjust on the draw circle, because we were losing a lot of draws the first game,” Thompson said. “And just working together on defense, shutting down a couple of their key players was really important today.”
Liberty’s defense was just as important to building the lead as its offense was. Several long South Carroll possessions ended up empty as Liberty’s lead kept growing.
“[Our defense] did amazing,” Jendrek said. “Their offense had the ball for three, four minutes and our defense shut them down on every play. It’s so pretty to watch. Every time we got a turnover and cleared it, everyone got really excited for it.”
South Carroll came out of halftime in a new offensive rhythm. Shannon McTavish scored a goal and Laur scored two to get the Cavaliers to within 9-5. But Liberty again answered with seven of the next eight goals to put the game away.
“I think they did a great job of coming out a little stronger than we did and overall they just had intensity and we lacked it a little bit,” South Carroll coach Brigid Scanlon said. “I think we just had to move the ball a little quicker and be more aggressive to attack it. I think we kind of waited back and a couple opportunities we didn’t successfully capitalize on.”
Liberty advances to Wednesday’s state quarterfinals. Four 1A regional finals across the state were moved to Tuesday due to weather, so Liberty won’t know its seed or opponent until those games are completed.
But the next adversary is irrelevant to the Lions. They’re after another taste of state championship glory.
“We want that state title again,” Jendrek said. “We got it once, we have to defend it. We want it really bad and I think we’re going to get there.”
Goals: L — Ally Pond 7, Taylor Jendrek 3, Val Thompson 3, Riley Matthiesen 2, Jenna Evans 1, Annika Wray 1. SC — Caroline Laur 5, Shannon McTavish 2.
Assists: L — Matthiesen 5, Pond 2, Thompson 2, Jendrek 1.
SC — McTavish 1.
Saves: L — Emily Pond 4. SC — Claire Vasquenza 7.
Liberty softball advances to regional final
Sarah Hart threw a four-hit shutout with six strikeouts, helping the Lions advance to Wednesday’s Class 1A North Region I championship game. The third-seeded Lions will play either No. 1 Western Tech or No. 5 South Carroll, who play their semifinal Tuesday.
Hart kept FSK’s potent offense off the board as Liberty’s offense piled up runs, starting with three in the top of the first and two more in the second inning. Evelyn Connor had three hits, including a triple, and three RBIs to lead Liberty. Leyla Hoffman doubled and drove in two runs. Kaelin Ault, Hailey Seaton and Madison Cadieux all drove in runs. Cadieux had three hits.