‘Move over’: Freedom Area girls soccer shows no mercy in win over Riverside – The Times

FREEDOM Colin Williams doesnt usually hold back at all.

His Freedom Area High School girls soccer team certainly takes after its eighth-year head coach. The numbers are astounding: four of the WPIAL Class 1A Bulldogs nine wins have come by five or more goals; four more have come by a margin of at least two goals. Williams squad which has now won its section for a seventh consecutive year has no let up.

And it sure as heck didnt in a 6-0 drubbing of Class 1A Section 3 foe Riverside on Wednesday night.

I play to win, said Williams after the win. If you cant keep up with me, then move over.

But win is a bit of an understatement. How about dominate? Obliterate? However one phrases it, the message is the same: the Bulldogs have been steamrolling their competition all year, and the Panthers just happened to be the next casualty in their path.

From the opening minutes of Wednesdays contest, the gap between Freedom and Riverside the second-best team in Section 3 was evident. The Panthers often penetrated the Bulldogs backline early in the match but failed to capitalize on quality shot attempts. Freedom had a three-goal cushion by halftime, with three different Bulldogs having found the back of the net in the first 40 minutes of action.

It wasnt long into the second half before any sliver of hope Riverside had of making the game competitive all but vanished.

With 39 minutes left to play, Bulldogs forward Shaye Bailey scored her second goal of the night. The sophomore found herself one-on-one with Riverside goalkeeper Lauren Kong and slipped a ball into the right pocket of the net to pick up right where her team left off before the intermission. Then, with a little less than five minutes remaining, she scored again to put the finishing touches on Freedoms blowout and complete the hat-trick.

Even if teams arent on our level, I feel like we can still push to get better as a team so we can go far (in the postseason), Bailey said. Even if we (arent faced with) the exact competition that we need.

For most of the contest, it looked as if the Bulldogs were competing against themselves instead of their opponent.

Senior midfielder Renae Mohrbacher said she and her teammates bring the same ferocity into every match no matter how formidable the team theyre facing is. She said Williams approach of never easing off the gas can be exhausting at times, but she recognizes its benefits.

What keeps me motivated is wanting to get far in the playoffs and just having the mentality that even if the team isnt at the same level as us, we still have to come into the game with our highest intensity and go into it strong from the start, said Mohrbacher, who pitched in with a goal of her own. So, that kind of just keeps you motivated.

All that could put the Panthers out of their misery Wednesday night was the sound of the final buzzer.

Freedom has a WPIAL playoff spot and, more than likely, a high seed secured with seven more regular season games left on the schedule. But Williams knows theres still work to be done. To him, there always is.

You cant stop playing the game, Williams said. Because you dont become better by dropping off your game.

Contact Parth Upadhyaya at pupadhyaya@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @pupadhyaya_.

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'Move over': Freedom Area girls soccer shows no mercy in win over Riverside - The Times