Liberty girls silenced
| Wednesday, Feb 25 2009 01:24 AM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:21 PM
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Buchanan's Emily Fernandez, left, and Liberty's Summer Chavez battle for control during Tuesday's game at Liberty.
Twice in the final minutes Tuesday, Liberty junior Mariah Alvidrez -- inarguably one of the area's best soccer players -- had clean looks at the Clovis-Buchanan goal.
But, both times, there were Buchanan defenders closing. There was Bears goalkeeper Angie Neathery, who had already dived to rake two balls off the goal line. And there were those wretched posts and crossbar that had foiled host Liberty twice.
So, facing all of that, Alvidrez missed the goals, first narrowly and then by a wide margin. Buchanan held on for a 2-0 victory in the Central Section Division I semifinals, and the Patriots went home unhappy.
"You go crazy doing what-ifs," Liberty coach Lorne Howlett said. "You can only go off what really happened. Our girls played hard, but there's no what-ifs. We just didn't execute quite like we wanted to."
Third-seeded Buchanan (19-3-1) advances to the section championship at home Saturday against No. 4 Stockdale, which upset unbeaten No. 1 Clovis 1-0. Buchanan has won three straight section titles, including last year against Stockdale.
No. 2 Liberty could have been in that position. The first close call for the Patriots (18-3-3) came early, when Summer Chavez streaked through the Bears defense but was called narrowly offside.
Shortly after that, Buchanan, which split two earlier meetings with Liberty, took firm control. After several chances, Kacey Held hammered home the game's first goal in the 23rd minute.
"Once we settled in defensively, we did a much better job of winning the ball and creating our own pressure," Buchanan coach Eric Farfan said.
Kristi D'Allesandro made it 2-0 Buchanan in the 65th minute, minutes after Liberty had a flurry on the other end that ended with a great save, a deflection off the post and a smash into the crossbar.
"Things didn't go our way," Howlett said. "When you've got two good teams, it comes down to the little things."
