Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – The Liberty High girls soccer team had a year to think about what might have been after losing in a regional final last season to Marion.

But Thursday the important thing wasn’t some old wound but the Lightning’s vast superiority on offense and defense while defeating Burlington 3-0 in a Class 2A regional final at Liberty High School

The victory sends the sixth-ranked Bolts to their first state girls soccer tournament and sent players running out on the field screaming to grab the IGHSAU qualifying banner emblematic of the history they made.

Leading scorer Rilyn Breinholt scored twice in the first half to all but put the game away.

With 26:53 left in the half Breinholt took a through ball from Bella Tafolla and found herself one on one with Burlington keeper Jenna Hentzel.

Breinholt’s clever footwork was too much for the keeper and she slotted the ball into the right corner.

“It was just an opportunity to score one on one against the keeper,” Breinholt said. “The second one was a corner kick. Me and Callie Stanley were playing a short play that we’ve been working on. I took it in from the line and tucked it in near post.”

The Grayhound defenders didn’t seem to react to the play, and Breinholt made them pay.

“After we got that two-up lead we knew we had to play our game, we had to possess the ball and we’d be fine,” she said. “They were the ones playing from behind.”

Tafolla added the third goal, and Breinholt was the one who sent the ball into the scrum in front of the net.

“I knew I had to put a knee in there and get it in there strong because there were so many people in there,” Tafolla said. “This is the last time playing on this field for Liberty and I knew I wanted to score.”

Yes, she kneed it in the net.

Three goals were a comfortable margin but it stayed that way because of the Lightning defense.

“Our defense is outstanding every single game,” Tafolla said. “They don’t get enough credit at all. They’ve saved us so many times.”

Coach Frank Fiordellisi said the starting back line of Eno Ituk, Stanley, Allie Hunter and Layla Rouse was outstanding, and the sure-handed keeper Ava Tague easily handled the few shots on goal that the Grayhounds mustered.

One of the keys was Ituk on the wing.

Burlington’s main thrusts were through balls to their wings, and if they got one to the speedy Hunter Pender it was Ituk who cut her off at the pass time after time.

“She is crazy fast,” Breinholt said of her teammate. “She’s amazing; nobody can get by her. She knows how to take somebody on one v. one. She’s also very good at possessing the ball.”

“She’s our secret weapon,” Tafolla said. “Sometimes we even throw her up here and she’s a forward.”

Why was it this Liberty team that made the breakthrough?

That Marion loss hung in the air for a long time and provided the impetus.

“We had to come back, and we had to win,” Breinholt said. “We’ve been working 365 days to get back here and to win.”

“I’ve never seen a team like this at Liberty,” Tafolla said. “We all are excellent athletes, and we knew this was the year. We’ve been training for so long, since freshman year, to get here.”

Motivation, experience, skilled players and leadership.

“So many reasons,” Fiordellisi said. “The senior class is amazing. The seniors that came in four years ago came into a program that was new, but a lot have been starters for four years. So the experience, the camaraderie together, the work off the field some put together.”

Liberty High will face Pella (13-4) in a Class 2A quarterfinal at Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines on Tuesday at 12:45 p.m.

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