Liberty’s Schray wins it with double-OT goal
Chris Schray has come up with some clutch goals this season as a senior for Liberty’s soccer team.
His latest is perhaps his favorite.
Schray scored 100 seconds into the second overtime on Thursday night for the “Golden Goal” as unbeaten Liberty earned a tough 1-0 win over archrival Freedom at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.
Coach Ian Larimer’s Hurricanes improved to 9-0 overall and in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.
Schray’s strike — a 25-foot blast from straight on — settled in the upper-left quadrant of the goal and it set off a raucous celebration on the Liberty sideline.
“I took a touch and I knew I could beat him on the first touch,” said Schray, who has a team-high nine goals and eight assists. “I didn’t see the goalie in front of me. I just tried to hit it far post and got a pretty good hit.
“I thought we were starting to struggle toward the end of the game. I was getting a little annoyed. But this feels really good.”
Freedom, which fell to 4-5 overall and in the conference, played well, particularly in the second half. The Patriots, though, failed to push the ball past Liberty senior goalie Blake Koski, an all-state selection last season who has not been scored on this year.
“The second half, I thought we dictated the play,” Freedom coach Matthew Reightler said. “We controlled everything, we were pushing forward, we had our chances. In my opinion we should’ve scored but that’s been the story of how it’s been the last couple games.”
Hurricane hopes: Liberty’s stellar start and superb regular-season record is nothing new for the proud program.
Postseason success, however, has eluded the Hurricanes.
Since the 2015 season, Liberty has posted a 72-9-5 record in regular season play, including this year’s 9-0 start. The Hurricanes, though, are 5-8 in the postseason over that same span and are still without a playoff title — conference or district.
Liberty has played in only one championship game in that time, the 2016 EPC final, and dropped a 2-1 decision to Stroudsburg.
Larimer, who took over at his alma mater in 2017 for his former coach, Jason Horvath, said his ‘Canes are aware of their past.
“We understand that we haven’t had the completion of a postseason go our way and I think that hunger is instilled in each and every one of our guys,” Larimer said. “As much as we’d like to rehash that, we’ll keep putting our best foot forward and we’ll see what we can do this postseason.
“I don’t see it so much as motivation. Every day is an opportunity for us to put our best foot forward to produce quality football for all the fans we have here.”
Patriot problems: A year ago, Freedom emerged as the area’s top team with a 20-2-4 overall record and EPC and District 11 4A titles.
Even though the Patriots graduated nine starters from last season, including No. 1 scorer Bradley Turocy and standout goalie Derek Bast, Reightler expected his program would reload and retain its status as an elite team.
That hasn’t been the case, however.
Freedom has lost five of its last six games.
“It’s been frustrating,” Reightler said. “I don’t think our record reflects what we’ve done. In almost every game we’ve played, we’ve controlled play and dictated the entire pace of play.”
The Patriots, who fell to East Stroudsburg South 2-1 on Wednesday, play four times next week.
“We need five more games to get to districts, which we expect to win five more,” said Reightler, in his third season. “Our big focus now is to make sure we have these kinks worked out by the time postseason comes because I believe at that point we could be a very dangerous out.”
Girls game: Haley Gschrey, Freedom’s star striker, scored on a penalty-kick in the first half and added another goal in the second half to spark the Patriots’ 2-0 win.
Freedom, which improved to 6-3 overall and in the EPC, earned the PK when Liberty was whistled for a handball in the box with 23:47 remaining the opening half. Gschrey converted the free try for her 16th goal this season, then tallied her 17th in the final 40 seconds. A junior committed to La Salle, Gschrey leads the conference with 39 points overall. Michael Blouse is a freelance writer. LIBERTY 1, FREEDOM 0, 2 OT Freedom 0 0 0 0 – 0 Liberty0001–1 Freedom – SOG: 4. Saves: Matthew Thomsen 4. Liberty – Goals: Chris Schray. SOG: 5. Saves: Blake Koski 4.