Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – The result for Liberty High’s top-15 showdown with Linn-Mar officially goes down as a draw.

Given the circumstances and the opponent a tie felt a lot more like a win for Liberty High on Tuesday.

Playing its fifth match in seven days Class 4A No. 11 Liberty High battled seventh-ranked Linn-Mar to a 0-0 draw on Tuesday in a Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division showdown in North Liberty.

“I think this would almost count as a win for us because Linn-Mar is obviously a really good team and we’ve had problems with them in the past,” Liberty High senior keeper Ava Tague said. “Leading up to this game we wanted to give our best effort and I think everyone did their jobs tonight and I think that’s a win for us.”

Linn-Mar had won the previous seven meetings with Liberty High by a combined total of 30-1, including a 5-1 win over the Lightning last season.

Tuesday was a battle from the outset.

Liberty High (6-2-3) had a pair of golden opportunities to snap the scoreless tie in the final 11 minutes but couldn’t convert and settled for a well-earned draw.

The tie snapped a three-match winning streak for Linn-Mar (7-3-2) that included top-10 teams Johnston and Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

“We’ve always had Linn-Mar circled on our schedule and we haven’t come out with a win in the past few years but that’s been a big goal of ours so just to get a tie is a big win for us,” Liberty High senior Callie Stanley said. “We have some people that are injured and we’ve had some games this weekend that were tiring but we pulled through today and did what we wanted.”

Liberty High had a first-half goal erased by an offside penalty and Tague came up with a pair of sliding saves to keep the match scoreless.

It was Liberty High that had the best chances to get on the board late.

Stanley had a shot from inside the box deflected by Linn-Mar keeper Dana Starmer with 10:51 remaining and Morgan Bennett nearly converted on the rebound but had her shot attempted blocked at the last second by a Linn-Mar defender.

Less than a minute later a Kamiya Browning shot from distance bounced off the crossbar.

“We had a couple of good chances and we wanted to let it fly, Callie created some great opportunities on her own and we were really close,” Liberty High coach Frank Fiordellisi said. “They might have had a few more shots total but I felt like we had the more threating chances.”

Liberty High pressed forward for much of the final 10 minutes but couldn’t convert.

The tie didn’t damper the enthusiasm for Liberty High.

“We have improved so much whether its through the defense, the midfield or on our offense we are improving and that is what we love to see,” Stanley said. “Our team culture just emphasizes do you best, do your job and have fun and the results will come and we are happy with the results.”

Tuesday’s draw capped a challenging stretch for Liberty High which played five matches in seven days going 1-1-3 in the stretch.

The Lightning played a 0-0 draw against ninth-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy last Tuesday and won 3-2 at Dubuque Senior on Thursday before playing two matches at the prestigious Tournament of Champions on Saturday in Bettendorf.

Liberty High played a 2-2 draw against Oak Park & River Forest (Illinois) and lost 3-1 to Glenbrook South (Illinois) on Saturday.

“Going back to last Tuesday against Kennedy we’ve worked so hard,” Tague said. “The loss on Saturday wasn’t great but getting a tie Saturday against a really good Chicago team and coming here tonight and putting up a great effort against a really good Linn-Mar team just shows our growth.”

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