Freedom boys soccer finishes off regular season with 5th straight win over Liberty – lehighvalleylive.com

Freedom freshman defender Benjamin Soleymani picked a good time to score his first goal at the high school level.

Soleymani gave the Patriots a 1-0 lead with 17:29 left in the first half of their showdown with Bethlehem rivals Liberty.

Freedom (10-7-1) went on to win 2-0 to secure its fifth straight victory over the Hurricanes (7-11) in an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference contest at Bethlehem Area School DIstrict Stadium Wednesday night.

Its amazing, playing as a freshman. This is our rival team and we came here, needed the win and thats exactly what happened, Soleymani said.

Even though we had already clinched districts, Freedom-Liberty is always the biggest game of the year; always. Theres so much emotion, we know so many of the guys. Its just a special occasion no matter what the circumstances are, senior goalie Tristan Willey said.

On the Patriots second corner kick of the game, sophomore Michael Deluherys delivery went across goal from Liberty goalkeeper Jonny Smiths right and bounced a couple of times before Soleymani chested the ball down. The freshman then lifted a high shot over Smith that nestled into the roof of the net.

I saw in the box, two of them miss the header, and it just dropped right me, Soleymani said. I chested it and then it dropped down. I saw the goalie a little bit up so I just poked it over him.

Freedoms second goal also came off a set piece.

With 15:30 left to play, Deluhery sent in a low cross from the left wing about 20 yards out from goal. The ball snuck through several players to Pates junior Dominik Roszkawski, who scored with a low finish from close range.

Its something weve worked on in practice the past couple weeks. We felt that we were giving up a lot of opportunities, especially on corners and free kicks with some, maybe not-perfect delivery. So we worked on that the past couple weeks of practice; both on delivery and on runs, Freedom first-year coach Tyler Nolan said.

The Hurricanes created a plethora of chances in the first half before and after Soleymanis goal on the counter attack.

About 12:30 into the contest, Liberty senior forward Kaique Costa Duarte took control of a through ball, cut in on his right foot from the left wing and curled a shot that clipped the crossbar not once but twice before going out for a goal kick.

About 20 minutes later, Costa Duarte was denied by the crossbar again when, after getting on the end of a long ball, his shot on the half volley went over Willeys outstretched glove but hit the woodwork instead of the net.

They move the ball very well so we had to stymie that by staying back and defending and then look to create chances going forward, Liberty coach Jason Horvath said. Youre trying to give yourself the best chance to win and I thought we did that tonight.

We had plenty of chances to score. (Freedom) should kiss the posts before they leave, and the crossbar, Horvath joked.

Willey was forced into making two saves in quick succession halfway through the first half when a Hurricanes free kick landed near the penalty spot and the senior made back-to-back stops from close range.

Willey, whos started between the posts since his freshman season, finished with six saves to preserve the shutout.

I just knew I had to step out, make myself big. Once I did that, I had to be up quick. I saw he could put it back in, I had to get in the way, Willey said. It means so much, I didnt start having clean sheets until last year. Having a clean sheet in this big game, it means a lot.

In the second half, the Hurricanes tried to press Freedom more in its own half but failed to create the desired turnovers.

They soon caught on to where we were trying to play the ball so they started to press a little higher, cheat a little bit, but we did really well breaking their line, Soleymani said.

Thats something we would not have done back in the first couple games of the year, Nolan added. We wouldve panicked and we wouldve knocked the ball long and given up possession, but it shows their belief in each other, their belief in the system and the style that we play that theyre quality enough players to do that, to keep possession under pressure.

The Patriots have now won five of their last six and will have some time off to prepare for the District 11 Class 4A tournament. Freedom, powered by the goal scoring production of all-state selections Peter Tichy and Sebastian Garces, won the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship last year.

We had a lot of expectations coming in. We could not be the same team as last year, but we have to be our own team, make our own expectations, Willey said. We started the season rough, couple of disappointing losses, but we finally got it together at the right time. When you get hot at the right time, good things can happen.

The rivalry loss brought an end to the first season of Horvaths second stint at Liberty. Horvath previously led the Hurricanes from 2006-2016 before he stepped back in charge prior to this season following the resignation of Ian Larimer.

The first thing we tried to do was bring the fight back to them. We had a good summer league, so that really helped build confidence, Horvath said. Im really, really proud of them. The seniors were absolutely fantastic in the transition, in their leadership role. Its never easy to get a new coach in your senior year; they welcomed me in, they bought into what we were selling, they pushed themselves on the field and when things didnt go their way they picked themselves up and continued to push themselves. Wonderful group of kids.

Liberty finished the season with more wins (7) than it had in 2021 and 2020 combined (6).

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Desmond Boyle may be reached atdboyle@lehighvalleylive.com.

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Freedom boys soccer finishes off regular season with 5th straight win over Liberty - lehighvalleylive.com