Pattys On 4 Game Shutout Streak With Wins Over Westerville Central & Hilliard Darby

The first week of October has yielded two more Liberty Girls Soccer shutout wins with 2-0 victories over both Westerville Central and Hilliard Darby.  This extends the Pattys shutout streak to 4 consecutive games, over which time the team’s goals against average has decreased from 2.30 per game to 1.64.  The Patriots back line of Olivia Sensky, Sydney Weaver, Mara Follmer, Caitlin Curmode and Goalkeeper Riley Cartwright have found their stride and are peaking at the most important time of the season.

In the Westerville Central match, goals were scored by Madison Rapier on a composed left footed drive off the far post that was created by a hard fought challenge won and assist by Laura Bichsel in the first half, and Lyndsey Kijowski put the game out of reach off a perfect corner kick by Abby Jones that was headed by Gia Gaetano to Kijowski for a one time volley past the Warhawks GK.

Tonight, the higher ranked Hilliard Darby team came to into the match at 8-2-3, and scouting prepared the Pattys to face team speed, an active central midfield and a physical style of play at a level not yet seen this season.  The Panthers lived up to the billing, but Liberty’s plan to strike early and then frustrate them with outstanding team defense carried the day. It took the Pattys less than 2 minutes to score when Olivia Sensky won a ball in the defensive third and played a ball forward that found its way up top to Abby Townsend, who evaded two defenders and slotted a long shot on the ground to the far post that beat the Panthers goalkeeper.  The second goal would come six minutes later when the Pattys desire to win the 50/50 battles created the scoring opportunity. Townsend started the attack with a flank run to end line and drew the ball back to the penalty spot where Lyndsey Kijowski drove a hard shot on goal, with a rebound that was buried by Townsend for  her second goal in less than 9 minutes.  The balance of the game was fairly even, with Darby’s key scoring chance being turned away late in the match on a stellar diving reaction save by Riley Cartwright. Liberty has raised its record to 7-4-3 on the season and 2-1-1 in conference.  Liberty outshot Darby by a tally of 11-5 and had the better of possession at 53%

In the JVA matches on both days, the squad matched the 2-0 scores in both games and added two more victories to improve to 8-4-2 and are also on a four game win streak. In the most recent two matches, Katie Underhill registered two unassisted goals vs. Central, with Rachel Davidson and Grace Linscott also finding the back of the net in the Darby match. Assists were credited to Underhill and Quinn Casey in the Darby match.

Next up for Liberty is intra-district rival Olentangy on next Tuesday, followed by Senior Night on Thursday vs. Watterson.

GO PATTYS!