Jennifer Jimenez

For West Valley Preps

It took 60 minutes of possession, shots-on-goal and sticking to their game for the No. 6 Liberty girls to find the back of the net and beat No.11 Tucson Sahuaro 1-0, advancing to quarterfinals of the 5A state soccer championship.

Senior captain Payton Younger said her team worked early in the game to get their passing going and then look for outside runners who couuld get crosses off, then get off as many shots as they can.

“We struggled tonight to find the back of the net, but we just kept shooting,” Younger said. “We had the playoff mentality and had a lot of pressure.”

But Younger didn’t let that pressure get to her, when she capitalized for her team with 20 minutes left to play in the second half, giving the Lions the 1-0 lead. The goal came off a throw-in after a ball was played in and knocked down, before Younger was able to put it away in the bottom left corner of the goal.

“It felt so good to finally put one in and just have the relief of being up one,” she said.

Forwards Gracie Bland, Anna Maskovich and Maya Lorenzana all tallied their own strikes on goal, with several just missing over the cross bar.

Head coach Kyle Pooler said his team’s frustration showed a bit when the girls started to shoot from everywhere on the field.

“That’s the way Sahuaro has played all year and they are really good at defense and they make sure you get frustrated like that,” Pooler said. “I told the girls at the half that the goals were going to come, but they have to be patient and continue to do what we are doing.”

Liberty junior Brooke Schuster leaps to win a header against Tucson Sahuaro senior Marlee Raniere during Tuesday night's 5A girls soccer first round playoff game. [Ralph Freso/For West Valley Preps][/caption]Pooler said he told his team if they start to get impatient and start to press, then they are playing into exactly what Sahuaro wanted. He said the team stayed patient and did what they needed to do and it finally came through after so many opportunities.

Liberty did not always take advantage of the space given to them, often working at a slower pace which caused things to break down at times. But after the half, the team adjusted and started attacking with speed.

“In the middle of the field is Sahuaro’s heart and soul and they really do a great job of getting and going, so I told the girls to keep the pressure on them and that is what they did,” Pooler said.

The Liberty girls have a very deep bench, full of talent and they will need it as they prepare to take on No. 3 Chaparral at 2 p.m. Feb. 3 at Chaparral High School. The Firebirds are the defending 5A champs.

They met earlier this season and the Liberty girls were defeated 3-1. But coach Pooler said he thinks the Lions are a much better team now.

“We are continually growing and they are what they are, which is pretty darn good,” Pooler said. “But hopefully we can do some things and show them some different things and get after them.”

Younger said her team is confident in each other and they know it’s going to take a lot of work to keep moving on. And coach Pooler agrees.

“Here we go, we have to play and do our thing,” he said.