Kenneth Manoj is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Liberty High School for AZPreps365.com

The Liberty girls soccer team celebrated Senior Night in style with a 3-0 victory over the Chandler Wolves Thursday night. 

In the first half, the Lions (3-6) controlled most of the momentum through juniors Katie Willoughby, Sophia Wheeler, and Tatum Thomason. In the 33rd minute, Willoughby put Thomason through on goal inside the box with a lofted ball over the defense. Thomason converted the opportunity with precision as she blasted a volley past the goalie and put the Lions up 1-0. 

As the game progressed into the second half, Chandler found ways to stifle the Liberty offense and get into a groove of their own.  

But halfway through the second half, Liberty doubled their advantage thanks to a clever counterattack started by senior Cassidy Hardecker. The goalkeeper had just picked up a loose ball in the box when she saw Thomason in the midfield with space to run into. A quick throw by Hardecker put Thomason in motion. She wasted no time zipping the ball past the Chandler defense for Willoughby to chase. Willoughby scored the goal with ease. 

Liberty pushed hard for a third and in the 81st minute they were rewarded with another goal from Thomason. On a broken play at least 10 yards outside of the box, Thomason created just enough separation from her defender to launch a looping ball into the top left corner of the goal, the exclamation point to an emphatic Lions victory. 

Coming off a two-game losing streak, Coach Kyle Pooler was encouraged by his team’s performance.

“It’s been rough and we haven’t found that chemistry yet, [but] I think tonight we started that process,” Pooler said. 

Many of the Lions shared Pooler’s sentiment and spoke highly of the team’s performance. 

“Coming off of the last few weeks, we’ve had a few really tough games... I think tonight we just played as a team,” Thomason said. “Like, the goals obviously came from us [Thomason and Willoughby], but I think overall it was such a good team effort, and all of our goals came from really good buildup.” 

This marks the seventh straight loss for Chandler and their third straight shutout. The Wolves will look to change their fortunes at Corona del Sol (1-5-2) at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The Lions will head to Sunnyslope (2-1) to face the Vikings at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Teamwork and chemistry will continue to be the keys for the Lions as they look to finish the season strong.

“I think in our previous games we just weren’t clicking,” Thomason said. “In this game, it showed we were clicking. We were working together, we were trusting each other, and that’s how we got the goals and the win.”