It’s been a year that the Liberty Patriots girls soccer team knew was going to be a challenge. But the reward from completing that challenge is so sweet and a feeling these Patriots will never forget.

“It’s a little bit of relief, but it’s more excitement for them… It’s good we finally got the job done,” Manager Ryan Johnson said.

The coach might have more excitement than the players, who might not realize what they have accomplished.

“I think everyone is kind of shocked,” sophomore Addie Streur said.

Liberty took on Inglemoor in a winner-to-state, loser goes home game at Liberty High School on Nov. 7.

There has been a lot of history with the Patriots and this game in particular. The last time Liberty got to the state tournament was back in 2019. Since then, Liberty has played in four straight winner-to-state, loser out games in the KingCo Tournament, this year being the fourth.

Liberty was in the driver’s seat, needing to beat Bellevue to make state. But the Patriots fell 3-0 and turned their attention to the Vikings of Inglemoor.

“I know we were all disappointed, so it was really great for them to come out and respond. We had a really solid game against a really good Inglemoor team,” Johnson said.

This year the script has been flipped, and Liberty is back in the state tournament on the back of a 2-0 win against Inglemoor.

“I was just really proud of us to actually come back, play a strong team and come back to get us to state,” Johnson said.

Liberty has an interesting mix of players on their roster this year. A roster with seven seniors is accompanied by a mix of underclassmen. Players like Chelsea Irvine, Malia Suehiro and Isabella Grabowski have set a standard for underclassmen like Addie Streur and Morgan Ackermann.

“The seniors have been really good. For me they were really welcoming and help encourage us. They go out of their way to have a bond with us and make sure we are doing our best,” Streur said.

Last time these two teams played, Inglemoor won 1-0 in a tightly contested match. In the first half, it looked as if the game was going to shape up just like the first meeting. Liberty created chance after chance, but the crosses couldn’t find a Patriot on the end of it.

“The message was, we are creating chances, we just have to finish one or two. We just have to have a couple fall in for us,” Johnson said.

For the players, they were just thinking of not wanting to play an extra period of overtime. Just as simple as that.

“We were like ‘Let’s go to state, let’s not have to go to overtime or PK’s.’ We played so well in the first half,” said Streur.

In the second half the Patriots finally broke through. Suehiro was able to chip the ball over the Inglemoor keeper and bounced the goal off the post in the 55th minute.

The one goal advantage was slim, and with the KingCo Offensive MVP in Samantha Snorsky, the Patriots’ lead would be threatened.

“She’s a great player. There is a reason she was the offensive MVP. She was terrific. We had to keep an eye on her all night,” Johnson said.

Junior goalkeeper Peyton Warns didn’t make a large number of saves in the win, but when her number was called, she answered, making a couple of huge saves.

“When we need her, she’s always making a big play for us,” Johnson said.

As the clocked stopped with 2:00 left, the Patriots struck again. Suehiro sent a perfect pass to Addie Streur, who had a one-on-one with the keeper and found the back of the blue net at Liberty High School.

There was an audible breath from all the fans in attendance and the players on the Liberty side after that second goal.

“All of our blood pressure went down after that. It was a good relief. We were really happy about it,” Johnson said.

The reality of state had now set in and Liberty couldn’t contain their excitement.

“It was awesome. Honesty, it was just a blur. It was such a great environment,” Streur said.

The opening rounds of the state tournament began Nov. 12, but the Patriots’ first game will more than likely be Nov. 15.

Malia Suehiro hugs Skyla Yu after scoring the game’s first goal. Ben Ray / The Reporter

Sophomore Addie Streur celebrates with Skyla Yu who recorded the assist on her goal. Ben Ray / The Reporter