DES MOINES – Last season, Iowa City Liberty didn’t get a chance to defend its 2023 state championship.
The Bolts made it to the substate semifinal against Carlisle, where they were tied in a second overtime period. That’s when a Liberty player received a yellow card – his second of the game, resulting in an automatic red card.
It marked the fourth red card of the season for the Bolts, which resulted in an automatic forfeiture, according to an Iowa High School Athletic Association rule.
So, making it to the Class 3A state championship game meant even more this season.
And top-seeded Liberty will get a chance at another championship, advancing to the title game against Urbandale after beating Cedar Rapids Washington, 3-2, on June 5.
“(I’m) just really happy for this group of guys after what they went through last year,” said head coach Matt Harding postgame. “For us to be back is big.”
Liberty took an early lead and, for most of the game, looked in control.
The Bolts’ first chance came within the first 10 minutes, when Roman Riggs stole the ball and let off a soft shot that Washington’s goalie grabbed. But very few minutes passed between that attempt and Liberty’s first goal of the game.
With 28:46 left on the clock, Mason Pentecost found a rebound after a corner kick and sent the ball into the center of the net. Liberty took the early, one-goal lead.
Fourteen minutes later – with 14:19 remaining in the first half – Riggs sent a pass from center to Japhet Bongo on the left side, and Bongo launched the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
For most of the remaining time in the first half, Liberty held a two-goal lead over Washington.
But the Warriors managed to cut into Liberty’s lead in the final two minutes of the half. Jacob Klein sent a direct kick – from around the 19-yard line – right down the middle and over Liberty goaltender Conley Sundblad. That made it a 2-1 game heading into halftime.
Liberty remained in the lead, despite falling short on a couple of close attempts. Pentecost got the ball in the goal area less than two minutes into the second, but Washington’s goalie made a diving save. The Bolts got a corner kick a few minutes later, and the Warriors were able to clear the ball after a scuffle in front of the net.
The Bolts let off three more unsuccessful attempts over the next few minutes, but the score remained knotted at 2-1 with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation.
That’s when Riggs dribbled past two defenders, waited out the goalie – who came out of the net to try to make a stop – and tapped it in from the left side of the box. After assisting on the second goal of the game, Riggs put Liberty up by two with 7:07 left to play.
“That last one was just Roman Riggs getting back to being Roman Riggs,” Harding said. “I hope he can take that confidence forward. He dealt with some illness in the middle of the season, and he’s really just getting back into form at the right time.”
Three goals proved enough for Liberty to win the game; it provided enough of a cushion for the Bolts to hang on to the lead, even with Washington scoring a second goal with 26.3 seconds remaining in the game.
The turnaround for the June 6 title game began almost immediately, with Harding making sure his team gets the proper fuel after a semifinal win: burgers and fries, maybe hold the chocolate milkshake. He said that winners get B-Bop’s, after all.
“We’ve got a real tight turnaround (to) see if we can figure some things out,” said Harding, looking ahead to Friday’s championship game. “They’ve got to turn around and do this in about 24 hours.
“That tough on them, but I think that’s where the depth of our team benefits us.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa City Liberty boys soccer advances to Class 3A state championship game
Reporting by Alyssa Hertel, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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