Game ends in scoreless tie, but Bison headed for playoffs

Senior defender Jordan Hill and her Liberty teammates played to a scoreless tie. (Photo by Mia Gray)

By Paige Mendez, Correspondent

The Liberty High School girls soccer team tied its Senior Night match-up with Tahquitz at home Thursday night in a game that was to decide the league title.

The 0-0 final score meant that the Bison would have to wait for another game's outcome in order to determine the final standings, but they were assured of a second-place finish, still good for a spot in the CIF-SS playoffs.

With it being a potential last home game for six of the girls on the squad, tensions were running high, which is possibly what resulted in multiple fouls and one yellow card in the game. Other than those turnovers, the Bison won the possession battle but couldn't quite convert any possession into a goal, something head coach Emma Bennett said is too familiar.

"I feel like all season we have out-possessed most teams but tonight their shots were unfortunately more on-frame than ours," she said. "So I don't think we made their keeper work as hard as we could have."

Of those opportunities to make the Titan goalkeeper work hard were a few key corner kicks early in the first half that could have given Liberty a leg up but just weren't converted.

Senior midfielder Karah Thompson said she felt like the forward part of their team's game was somehow not clicking.

"Definitely that transition from defense to midfield was looking good, and we had a difficult time from mid to forward transitioning," Thompson said. "But when we did transition, we had some good opportunities; we just couldn't finish."

Perhaps the biggest opportunity to put a score on the board was a penalty kick given to Liberty in the final minutes of stoppage time, taken and missed by junior Atianna Gipson.

Senior Jaydene Ruiz said the missed kick was something she would never want her teammate to dwell on.

"It's a 50-50 chance and we all miss those sometimes," Ruiz said. "I think they shouldn't take it hard and not stay on it and move forward."

Thompson, as a senior and a captain on the team, has been able to lead her teammates this season and said she has learned a lot from and about them.

"I think we're very deserving because we work very hard. We practice in rain or shine," she said. "But leading this team this year has taught me so much about more than just soccer. I learn so much about life and so much to take into adulthood just by being on this team and it's very powerful."

While heading into playoffs means their season is not finished, Ruiz said even when it is finished she hopes that their influence will last at Liberty High.

"Hearing about teams making it to CIF as a freshman, that's like your goal, even if you don't do it until your senior year. It's a really big thing," Ruiz said. "I think that sets a tone for the rest of the soccer years to come for younger girls coming in to play. I think it's good that we have set that high standard."

Brackets for CIF will be released this weekend, with wild card games to be played on Feb. 6 and first-round games on Feb. 8.