What some people would call the toughest game of the tournament, turned out to be the toughest game of the entire season. In a back-and-forth physical game that went into double overtime, Liberty completed their district championship run with a 3-2 win against St. Dominic. This is the second time in a row Liberty has beat St. Dominic in the district championship.
Head Coach Tony Luedecke had high hopes for this game, knowing that it was going to be their toughest game of the season.
“I think it’s gonna be a good match, we both play a similar system and are very physical, which is gonna create some good soccer,” Luedecke said.
The Eagles got the first goal of the game on head ball from Corey Lynch (11).
“It was a good feeling, I mean, to go score the first goal in the championship game against a really good team, you can’t beat that,” Lynch said.
The Eagles had a solid 2-1 lead going into halftime, but St. Dominic quickly answered 30 seconds into the second half to tie it up 2-2, where it stayed for the remainder of regular time. Throughout the entire game both sides of the stands were filled with people from both teams, including massive student sections chanting and cheering on their team.
Though St. Dominic had the one seed and was projected to win, Gavin Hollowell (12) quickly ended their season 30 seconds into the second overtime on a screamer into the upper right corner.
“It felt great, the Dominic student section was on the side we scored, and they were talking [trash] the whole game, so it felt really good to score the game winner and celebrate in front of them,” Hollowell said.
The Eagles defeated the Crusaders in last year’s district finals 1-0, but their state run quickly ended in the quarterfinals against John Burroughs. Liberty will play SLUH on Nov. 16, at home for the state quarterfinals, where Coach Luedecke hopes he can make a long run to the state championship.
LIBERTY 3, ST. DOMINIC 2 (2OT)
FIRST HALF
LHS Corey Lynch 10 minutes in
STD Johnny Petruso 26 minutes in
LHS Jackson Rocco 30 minutes in
SECOND HALF
STD Johnny Petruso 30 seconds in
OVERTIME 2
Gavin Hollowell 30 seconds in