Liberty hoping to turn strong play into wins | Soccer preview

The results haven’t been showing on the scoreboards, but Liberty soccer coach Darren Tremblay is excited about his team’s early progress.

Just one example of the team’s conflicting results came March 23 in a 1-0 loss to Bellevue. Tremblay said Bellevue took just two shots in a game mostly controlled by Liberty.

“It’s just one of those games where you dominate, dominate, dominate but just couldn’t finish,” he said. “Then they hit one 40-yard shot.”

The Patriots are off to a 1-3-1 start, 1-2 in KingCo 3A/2A play.

Junior Josh Johnson has been a pleasant surprise as a go-to scorer for the team early. After the team’s leading scorer had five goals last season, Johnson has four already this season.

Freshman Conner Noblat has been another strong player up front. Noblat hit the team’s winning goal 89 minutes in against Sammamish March 27.

On defense, junior Joe Dapper and senior Scott McLaren have been standouts. In the middle, junior Jared Bales and sophomore Colton Ronk are keys. On the outside, senior Zach Lentini and junior Oliver Janders have surprised with their play early.

Tremblay said the team simply needs to work on finishing down the stretch.

“A big thing for us is consistency,” he said. “It’s been one crucial error for us and they capitalize. We need to eliminate the big mistakes and capitalize on our opportunities.”

Tremblay said the Patriots have done an excellent job of limiting shots, but the ones opposing teams do get have been going in. Against 4A KingCo contender Redmond, Liberty shot four times to Redmond’s six. But Redmond came away with the 4-1 win.

This team does have room to grow with only five seniors. The junior class, with Bales, Johnson, Dapper, Janders and others, is strong. The varsity team has just one sophomore, Ronk, and two freshmen, Noblat and keeper Quinn Magendanz. Tremblay said there are several impact freshmen on the JV team.

The top five KingCo 3A/2A teams advance to the playoffs with the top seed advancing directly to the state tournament.

Contact Renton Reporter Staff Writer Adam McFadden at amcfadden@rentonreporter.com or 425-255-3484.

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