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

The Liberty Lions were clicking on all cylinders as they pitched a 5-0 shutout victory over the Cienega Bobcats Tuesday night in the first round of the girls soccer Open Division playoffs. 

Even after a delayed start, the Lions (8-3-1, 2-2 6A Desert Valley) came out of the gates hot. Lions junior midfielder Gracie Sommerville got the scoring started quickly with a goal less than 10 minutes into the game. 

“I think the girls were mentally prepared for the late start and they handled it well,” Liberty’s head coach Kyle Pooler said. 

The Lions were certainly prepared as they scored all five of their goals in the first half. Somerville found the back of the net twice and Evelyn Carr, Gabrielle Cafarelli and Sarah Wilson also contributed a goal. 

The ball movement and spacing of the Lions' offense created a lot of open looks that the girls capitalized on in the first half. 

“The girls shared the ball and that is what it is all about,” Pooler said. 

Coming out of the second half, the Lions took their foot off the gas offensively but remained poised and focused. For nearly the whole second half, the Lions controlled the ball in their offensive third. 

“I told the girls to not get complacent, and that the game was not over yet,” Pooler said 

While the scoring cooled off, the Lions remained in control the whole second half and never let the Bobcats generate any momentum. 

The Bobcats (11-1, 4-1 5A Southern) had just one shot on goal all night, which is a tell on how dominant the Lions' defense played. 

Looking ahead to the Lions' second-round matchup, Coach Pooler said he wants to see a lot of the same stuff that they executed on Tuesday night. 

“Our movement off the ball was really good,” Pooler said. “We created lanes and shared the ball, it was all really good.”

For the Bobcats, tonight was more so about gaining some much-needed team experience as they now prepare for the 5A playoffs. 

“That first half alone was enough experience to learn off of and grow from,” Cienega’s head coach Tony Torres said. 

The Bobcats team is constructed with just four seniors and seven freshmen so the team can use all the experience they can get. 

Even with the loss, Coach Torres said there is still a lot of good to pull from the game. 

“Soccer teaches so much about life,” Torres said. “It teaches you how to deal with adversity and setbacks and that is all very important to our program.”

As the Bobcats await for the 5A playoffs to kick off, the Lions will have a quick turnaround as they continue on into the open division playoff. 

Pooler said he wants his girls to play faster on Thursday night and get the ball off their feet quicker. 

“We are gonna have a lot more pressure on us and we have got to get the ball off our foot quicker,” Pooler said. 

The Liberty Lions will travel to the Xavier College Prep Gators (11-1, 4-0 6A Central) on Thursday to try to punch their ticket to the open division quarterfinals.