High school girls lacrosse: Liberty Falcons looking to keep postseason streak alive

After a heartbreaking loss in last year's girls lacrosse state quarterfinals, the Liberty Falcons look poised to become more than just a playoff staple.

With Wednesday's Northwest Oregon Conference opening 14-4 win against rival Century at 53rd Ave. Park, the Falcons are now 3-0 to start the season. Liberty opened with a 15-5 win against Westview, then doubled up host Jesuit 10-5 on Monday.

"They've been playing really well together, especially our offense," Liberty's third-year coach Amber Christensen said. "They make a lot of connections with really good passing, and they're very smart. We've had a lot of fun so far."

Last season ended in dramatic fashion for the Falcons, who finished 14-5 and shared the conference championship with Century. Although, if you ask the Falcons, they consider themselves sole conference champions since they outscored the Jaguars overall in two meetings.

In the quarterfinals against West Linn at Hillsboro Stadium, the Falcons were down by three goals with 5 1/2 minutes to go. Their season was on the line, so they called a timeout.

The break paid off as Liberty scored twice over the final 4:48 to pull within one of the Lions. The Falcons even had the ball and were threatening to tie the game with less than a minute to go.

But a pass into traffic failed to connect, West Linn corralled the ball and the Lions tacked on one more score late to hold on for the 12-10 win.

In addition to winning the conference title, the Falcons advanced to the final eight for the third time ever and first since 2008, following back-to-back first-round exits in 2009 and 2010.

For the fourth year in a row, the Falcons' year ended in the playoffs at the hands of a team from the vaunted Three Rivers League. Following losses to Oregon City in 2008, Lakeridge in 2009 and Lake Oswego last season, Liberty took on this year's TRL No. 3 seed, West Linn.

"We played really well," Christensen said following the loss to West Linn. "We're a really good team, and I think we'll be even better next year. So we're happy with our season."

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High school girls lacrosse: Liberty Falcons looking to keep postseason streak alive