Old and young, Liberty has the right mix

Looking at the Liberty High soccer roster, coach Darren Trembley sees something familiar. The team kept five freshmen on the varsity roster this season. The last time he kept five varsity freshmen was back in 1998, and things worked out reasonably well then.

In the next four years his team won three league championships, made the state quarterfinals and placed third in state three times.

Trembley is hoping to recapture the magic with a quintet of freshmen this season.

“I don’t know if we can top that,” Trembley said. “But you never know. We have five freshmen this year and they all belong here. Hopefully we can get some things done and it will be the start of something.”

The Patriots could be best described as young and old in 2008. The team has a bevy of seniors and freshmen, some sophomores and just a few juniors. For the seniors, this season is now or never.

“A handful of them have been on varsity all four years,” Trembley said. “They’re hungry. The number one goal is to make the league playoffs. They’ve got a lot of desire.”

Though the seniors may be the hungriest players on the team, Liberty’s fate likely rests with freshmen and how they adjust to the varsity level.

Liberty finished 5-9-2 last season, in sixth place in the KingCo 3A. But with the KingCo re-alignment, they’ll have some new competition this season.

In the new division, Liberty will face Juanita, Bellevue, Mercer Island, Interlake, Mount Si and Sammamish.

“With the big boys moving up (to the KingCo 4A), it definitely opens things up in our league,” Trembley said. “It’s somewhat wide open.”

Liberty looks to be well-stocked at midfielder and forward. Senior Krissa Gunderson will play defender and midfielder. Gunderson has played on varsity all four years, so she obviously has experience working for her. She also doesn’t play club soccer.

“She’s one of those rare players that can get away with it and still be a good player,” Trembley said.

Sophomore Sara Duvall, senior Rayssa Lira (all-league honorable mention), senior Monica Cramer and junior Shawna Lindberg all return to the midfield group. Freshmen Kimi Fry and Shannon Daly, plus sophomore Baylee Cooke are new to the team and will get some time at midfielder.

Anna Skutley made all-league honorable mention last season at forward. Trembley said the senior will have a much better supporting cast this season to help her improve.

Nicole Newbury is another all-league honorable mention senior at forward. Freshmen Caddisy Nangle and Kendall Downing will play at forward as well.

Along with Gunderson and Cramer, senior Anna Freeman will hold down the fort at defender, a position that can’t have many missteps.

“We’re not weak on defense; I think we’re thin,” Tremebley said. “If we stay healthy I think we’ll be OK back there. If we run into some injuries or illness we could be real thin back there.”

The team did take a big loss when Kelsey Werre was injured in the spring. The senior midfielder/forward made the second team all-league last season. Werre will likely miss most, if not all, of the season.

An X-factor for the team could be volunteer assistant Debbie Whitman, who has worked with the team’s chemistry, team building and leadership qualities. Trembley said the help “goes a long ways” to help Liberty become a better team.