Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Last season Liberty High made history with the first state tournament appearance in program history.

This year the Lightning are trying to run it back only this time in the state’s biggest class.

A year after reaching the 2A state tournament, Liberty High moved a win away from a 3A state tournament berth with a 4-0 shutout of Davenport North on Wednesday in a Region 8 semifinal in North Liberty.

“We knew when we moved up to 3A it was going to be tougher but we really didn’t know where we would stand or how we would be able to perform,” Liberty High senior Rilyn Breinholt said. “We’ve been given a great opportunity this year and so we just have to seize that opportunity.”

Last season was the most successful in Liberty High program history.

The Lightning won a then program record 13 matches while advancing to the 2A quarterfinals.

Liberty High has already one-upped that success last season winning 14 matches and returning to the regional title game in its first season in 3A.

The Lightning will seek the first back-to-back state tournament in program history on Friday when it hosts ninth-ranked Bettendorf (11-4-3) in the Region 8 title game on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Bettendorf defeated Davenport Central 6-1 in the other Region 8 semifinal on Wednesday.

“It just means a lot that we are able to come back again even moving up a class,” Liberty High sophomore Morgan Bennett said. “We’ve come a long way already this season with a young team and making it back to state would be a really good look for us again.”

Liberty High (14-1-2) scored a pair of goals in a span of less than a minute to take control midway through the opening half on Wednesday.

Breinholt opened the scoring when she scored her team-leading 28^th goal of the season on a penalty kick with 18:52 remaining in the first half.

The Lightning struck again in a hurry.

Junior Mia Eastman scored off a Callie Stanley feed less than a minute later to give the Lighting a quick 2-0 lead.

“It’s very important that we have other girls that can score,” Breinholt said. “Sometimes people look at the stat sheet and see me or Callie with a lot of goals and they will start to man mark us but we have tons of people that will score regardless. You can try to mark us but we have people that will step up and do their job.”

Bennett made it a 3-0 halftime lead for the Lightning when she scored off a Breinholt assist with 5:29 left in the first half.

“We are a very well-rounded team,” Bennett said. “It’s not just one person, obviously Rilyn and Callie are amazing players but when we are all strong together it’s really hard to beat that.”

Breinholt capped the scoring with her second goal of the game, and 29^th of the season, off a Stanley feed in the 63^rd minute.

“We reminded them tonight, I know we moved up a class but we were in this same spot last year,” Liberty High coach Frank Fiordellisi said. “They put in the work all year, they’ve seen the result against good quality teams and we knew if we came out and played really well tonight we could have some success.”

The win was the fifth in a row for Liberty High which closed the regular season with consecutive 2-1 wins over Cedar Rapids Xavier and West High.

Liberty High has posted three shutouts during its five-match winning streak and outscored opponents 22-2 during that span.

“We’ve just been so connected recently,” freshman midfielder Delilah Espinoza-Kroona said. “Towards the beginning of the season we had some good games and we also had some bad games where we would play and match the level of the other team and I feel like lately we’ve gone out and played our game. We know how to play and when we play our game connected we are unstoppable.”

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