Liberty Girls Soccer Team Reaches District Final For 3rd Straight Year With 2-1 Win Over Kilbourne (10/27/15)

On a rainy, cold and miserable night at Patriots Stadium, the #6 Pattys delivered a 2-1 victory over #12 Worthington Kilbourne and advanced to the District Finals for the 3rd straight year, a first in school history. The victory avenged a loss just 12 days earlier to the Wolves in the regular season finale.  Liberty will face #4 Thomas Worthington for the District Championship on Halloween Saturday, with a 4:00PM kickoff at Westerville South High School. Liberty is now 12-5-1 on the season.

As with the DeSales match, the Pattys had a wide advantage in shots (15-3), corners (9-2) and possession, but were not able to finish early chances that could have provided a wide margin of victory. But unlike the previous outing vs. the Wolves, the Pattys brought a total team effort in both the defending and attacking phases of the game, and the result never did seem to be in doubt.

Liberty opened the scoring against a stiff wind in the 23rd minute, when Junior Sarina Dirrig poked home a goal off a 27 yard free kick assist from Senior Captain Emma Waters. The 1-0 lead would carry to the half.

With the Pattys getting the wind at their back for the second half and momentum on their side, it felt like Liberty was ready to close out the match, but Kilbourne caught the Patriots off guard at the whistle, earning a corner up the right flank within 15 seconds of the kickoff.  The corner was not cleared and in the ensuing scramble Kilbourne scored to even the match less than one minute in to the half.

But there was no panic in the Patriots, and in the 60th minute the Senior “Captain Connection” of Emma Waters and Hailey Pickelheimer would deliver the winning goal. On Waters 8th corner of the night, Pickelheimer timed her run to the back post and buried the game winner with a one time strike. The goal was Pickelheimer’s 9th of the year, and Waters 8th assist, which puts them both at 2nd on the team in the respective categories. Click HERE for the highlight clips from the “Fike Fan Cam”.

Coach Kristen McMahon said of the goal, “Emma and Hailey have been in this situation before, and tonight their experience and leadership showed by delivering the game winner. They know what it takes to advance, and we expect to build on their leadership by example and tonight’s total team effort to take the next step”.

Click HERE to see all of the results and District Championship matchups in the central region.

The Patriots fans have been a big factor in their success this season, so let’s make sure to get the word out and “Pack the stands for the Pattys” this Saturday.

GO PATTYS!