The Mountain View-Birch Tree Liberty Lady Eagles sealed a victory over the West Plains Lady Zizzers Monday night thanks to a second half goal and a score in overtime.
“I thought we started out very slow and didn’t play well in the first half,” said Liberty head coach Joey Spittler, “but the girls made adjustments and did a great job in the second half. We kept getting really close and kept missing, but they kept trying and kept trying. That’s all you can ask for as a coach.”
West Plains was first on the board as Emily Riggs set up Shelby Foster for a goal with just over nine minutes burned off the clock.
In the first minute of the second half, Liberty answered with a goal from Angelina Herold, assisted by Hanna Vines.
Regulation closed with the 1-1 tie, but Liberty’s Taylor Pulliam made good on a penalty kick in overtime to take the 2-1 win.
“It was really exciting,” said Pulliam. “I always hit PKs in practice and they just decided I would be the one to hit them in the games. So I did, and had the game-winning kick!”
Coach Spittler credited goalie Jaci Mantel for saving the game with a block on a penalty kick by West Plains with 17 minutes to play. “The defense and Jaci kept us in the game all night,” he said.
Goalkeeper Jaci Mantel had 6 saves for the Lady Eagles, while Amelia Anderson batted down 13 for West Plains.
“We played better than we have,” said West Plains head coach Amy Marshall. “We had a rough week last week, we played a lot of tough opponents. We came out and got ahead on them like we wanted to, but we just had that momentary lapse at the beginning of the second half that let them back in it. We didn’t win the ball like we needed to, and that put someone out of position, caused the PK, and they capitalized on our mistakes.”
Coach Marshall noted the strong play of her six seniors. “They are all doing an excellent job,” she said.
“We’re a very young team and it has taken us a long time to get in sync with each other,” said Coach Spittler. “We’re finally getting there. Each game we get a little bit better and that’s what we want to see.”
