Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Even with a 2-7 record first-year Liberty High head coach Matt Harding knew his team was close.

Five one-goal losses to ranked opponents backed up Harding’s hunch his team was much better than its record would indicate.

On Tuesday the Lightning finally got the breakthrough win to prove it.

Liberty High forced overtime with a goal in the 83^rd minute and edged two-time defending state champion Pleasant Valley 6-5 in penalty kicks to earn a 2-1 win over the fifth-ranked Spartans on a windy evening at Liberty Stadium.

“We talked about how our record didn’t really reflect where we were at as a team and they all bought into that,” Harding said. “They recognized that we are a better team than our 3-7 record shows.”

Class 3A No. 14 Liberty High improved to 3-7 with the win that came after the Lightning dropped a pair of close losses to top-10 opponents on Saturday.

A 4-3 loss to fourth-ranked Waukee and a 3-2 loss to No. 7 Bettendorf in penalty kicks were the latest in a long line of early season close calls for the Lightning.

On Tuesday Liberty High finally flipped the script on its close losses.

“We took two losses on Saturday to really good teams in Bettendorf and Waukee Northwest and I think it showed the guys that they could be in those games,” Harding said. “They saw if we just do the right things we could maybe turn the result.”
After a back-and-forth scoreless first half in which both teams created scoring chances Pleasant Valley (9-2) took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Darius Hulbert in the 55^th minute.

The 1-0 deficit felt like much more against a Pleasant Valley team that had allowed just four goals on the season and hasn’t allowed a single state tournament goal during its back-to-back state title runs the past two seasons.

“What happened was what we didn’t want to happen, we didn’t want to go behind because their defense just does not give up a goal and they definitely don’t give up a lead,” Harding said. “In the postseason the past two years they haven’t given up a goal so they know how to defend and keep a lead and we stayed at it.”

Liberty High got the equalizer when Hayden Saul scored on a header with 6:13 remaining setting the stage for a pair of Liberty High youngsters to star in the shootout.

Sophomore keeper Conley Sundblad made a pair of saves and freshman Finn O’Toole converted the winning penalty kick on the Lightning’s seventh attempt of the shootout to secure the win.

“We played Bettendorf and that went into pks and I didn’t get a chance to save one but I came really close,” Sundblad said. “I think that experience helped me tonight.”

Both teams converted four of their first five penalty kick attempts to extend the match.

Pleasant Valley’s Jack Reiter and Liberty High’s Cooper Saul both converted kicks as the teams remained even.

Sundblad came up with a diving save of an Aiden Stoflet attempt on the seventh Spartan attempt to give the Lightning an opening.

“I stuck to the basics and stuck to what my coach taught me,” Sundblad said. “I was just shooting the hands, staying low and being on my toes.”

O’Toole stepped up and slammed in his penalty kick opportunity to secure the win.

“That honestly was a dream come true,” O’Toole said. “I’ve been dreaming of this moment, this is one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.”

Liberty High improved to 3-7 on the season with the win, its first of the season over a ranked team.

“This feels amazing, Bettendorf and Waukee Northwest we were super close but we didn’t get the result we wanted,” O’Toole said. “We scrimmaged this team earlier in the year and we lost so this was our chance to come back and prove to teams we are in it.”

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