Late Goal Lifts Liberty Over Westerville North

Patriots Notch Key Win Over Pickerington North 1-0
September 22, 2016
Liberty Scores Early & Holds Off Celtics For 1-0 Win
October 1, 2016
Patriots Notch Key Win Over Pickerington North 1-0
September 22, 2016
Liberty Scores Early & Holds Off Celtics For 1-0 Win
October 1, 2016

On Tuesday, the Patriots visited conference opponent Westerville North with a goal to remain undefeated in the new OCC Buckeye Division.  The final result was 3-2 in favor of the Pattys, but the result was in question until the 79th minute in a hard fought battle with the Warriors, who brought maximum effort over the full 80 minutes.

Westerville North had the first quality scoring chance in the 4th minute when North’s Karli Royer took advantage of Liberty turnover, got behind the defense on the left flank and hit a shot that hit the far post.  The ball was collected by Sydney Weaver, who fed the ball up the left flank to Abby Jones. Jones beat 3 opponents and slotted a ball to Abby Townsend. Townsend drove endline and crossed the ball to Natalie Amodeo who finished the chance to give Liberty a 1-0 lead just 19 seconds after the near miss by the Warriors.

Amodeo extended the lead to 2-0 in the 14th minute on another assist from Townsend, and the Pattys appeared to be taking firm control of the match.  However, with one minute left in the half, North cut the deficit on a quality goal off of a corner kick, and the score was 2-1 at the break.

Liberty came out strong in the second half, but yielded a corner in the 7th minute, and after a scramble in front of the net and failed clearance attempts, the Warriors got a foot on the ball and leveled the score.

For the rest of the match, Liberty controlled possession, but Westerville North’s compact defense and numbers behind the ball frustrated the Pattys attack until the 79th minute when Olivia Sensky sent a long ball forward that deflected to Abby Jones.  Jones played a perfectly weighted 25 yard driven pass that threaded past three Warrior defenders to Sarina Dirrig, who had made a diagonal run across the back line. Dirrig settled the pass, got behind her defender and buried the chance which would prove to be the game winner.

The Pattys are now 9-1-0 overall and 3-0-0 in conference, and began the week ranked #2 in the Central District and #10 in the State by the Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association. Next up for the Pattys is an away date on Saturday at 12:00PM at Dublin Jerome, with JVA kicking off at 10:00AM.

GO PATTYS!

 

 

 

 

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