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WEST VALLEY PREPS

Lady Lions soccer lose heartbreaking first round game to Pinnacle

Pioneers knock out young Liberty squad 2-0

Posted 2/14/20

PHOENIX - Liberty girls soccer head coach Kyle Pooler spoke to his team pre-game about not playing scared and being fast and aggressive.

The visiting Lions were competitive but fell to …

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WEST VALLEY PREPS

Lady Lions soccer lose heartbreaking first round game to Pinnacle

Pioneers knock out young Liberty squad 2-0

Posted

PHOENIX - Liberty girls soccer head coach Kyle Pooler spoke to his team pre-game about not playing scared and being fast and aggressive.

The visiting Lions were competitive but fell to fifth-seeded region rival Phoenix Pinnacle 2-0 in Saturday's 6A first round game.

“I think they were just a little more athletic and disciplined than we were. We really thought we had a chance to scare them,” Pooler said.

The Lions were neck-and-neck with the Pioneers all of the first half until Pinnacle’s timely goal that seemed to be heading right for the Lion’s goalie took an odd bounce over the keeper's head and hit the back of the net.

“We don’t play on turf a lot, so the speed of the ball made me stationary and it slipped off and I couldn’t get to it in time,” junior goalkeeper Cassidy Hardacker said.

After protecting their side of the field for most of the first half, the wheels started to fall off for #12 seed Liberty (12-8-2).

Determined to make a second-half push, the Lions came out fierce.

“Once a mistake happens like that and you get down, you have to jump out of that game plan a bit and start pressing and moving things forward,” Pooler said.

Pinnacle (16-5-1) ready for the Liberty attack and overpowered the Lions quickly putting another ball in the net making the score 2-0.

“Our team came together. Even though we didn’t have the greatest game, we gave it all our effort and we were able to win,” Pinnacle head coach Jen Larsen said.

The Lions tried to push the ball up the field throughout the rest of the game but couldn’t manage to score a goal.

Hardacker who was emotional after the game said, “We just had a lot of emotion going into the game. We were worried about losing our seniors if we lost this game, and we wanted it too much. We were too worried about making mistakes.”

However, the news isn’t all bad, as the Lions will only be graduating four seniors and returning 20 players.

“The girls are down right now, and I feel for the seniors, but no one realized after graduating 12 seniors last year just how good we could be. We will be back,” Pooler said.

As for the Pioneers, they are very excited about the rest of the tournament.

“We can go all the way. I believe in our team so much, and we have a lot of different girls who can do a lot of different things,” Larsen said.

Editor's Note: Benjamin Garcia is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student