LIBERTY – The Liberty boys’ soccer team was excited to be playing at home on Friday against Port Jervis/Eldred. Their energy overwhelmed the visiting team, leading to a final score of 4-0. It only took a couple of minutes for Liberty to score their first goal on a breakaway, kicked in by Kevin Garcia Martinez. 

Although that was their only score in the first half, they were by far the dominant team; keeping the ball in the PJ/Eldred end with crisp passing, no one player holding on to the ball for too long, and always looking for the open man.

 The Redhawks’ defense constantly swarmed to the ball, not allowing their opponents any space to move or pass. A couple of potential PJ/Eldred runs were snuffed out by brilliant tackles by the Liberty back line, changing possession and making sure that any momentum stayed with them [the Redhawks].

Another quick score to open the second half, started to cement Liberty’s control of the game. The constant pressure they exerted began to frustrate and wear the PJ/Eldred team down. Liberty went on to score three more goals, all by Kevin Garcia Martinez. One of the goals was particularly spectacular; he executed an amazing shot with a heel kick, the ball soared over the goalkeeper before it landed in the net.

Regarding the loss, PJ/Eldred coach Joe Coniglio looked at the big picture, “We’re getting closer, but still have a lot of things to work on and start applying those things in the games, but we’re making progress.”

Liberty Coach Rich Feeney said about the win, “We started hot…we had to get through some early nerves, being a young team, playing at home in front of friends and family. Today’s win was the payoff for all the work we’ve been putting in.” On his star player of the game, Kevin Garcia Martinez, he said, “He’s been doing a lot of good things, he just hadn’t been finding the net, but today he sure did.”