Staff photo / Dan Hiner Brookfield's Mason Graybill (0) runs away from Liberty's Luca Scarmack (12) and Trenton Long (5) during the second half of a game Wednesday at Liberty High School.
LIBERTY -- A leopard can move at a top speed of 36 miles per hour. It's pretty fast for a large cat. However, the Liberty Leopards boys soccer team wasn't fast enough in the second half to keep up with Brookfield on Wednesday.
The Warriors struck quickly to start the second half, pulling out a 2-1 win over Liberty.
"I absolutely love how they bounced back," Brookfield head coach Jen Russo said. "The halftime speech was not a nice one. I think they just needed motivation. Sometimes I'm a little too lax with them. But they heard what they needed to hear and they came back."
Brookfield (3-5-1, 2-2-1 Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference - Scarlet Tier) got back into the game when Brayden Reed sent a pass up field in the opening minute. Mason Graybill got to the ball and split the Liberty defenders, scoring on a breakaway 47 seconds into the second half.
The Warriors jumped in front less than three minutes later.
Brandon Evans took a corner kick from the right side. The attempt flew through the box, but Justin Calip was in perfect position to grab the ball and get off a quick shot from the left side.
"Once they came together as a team, it was just pass after pass after pass," Russo said. "That's how we got it down there ... it was the only way we got it down there. I tell them all the time, 'You can't do it by yourself.'"
The Leopards (1-9-1, 0-7 MVAC Scarlet Tier) struck first and controlled play for the majority of the first half.
Jared Merrick-Sierra put Liberty ahead in the opening minutes of the game, and the Leopards continued to apply pressure on the Brookfield back line. But the momentum quickly shifted at the start of the second half, and the Leopards were unable to get it back.
"They wanted it more than we did in the second half," Liberty head coach David Sierra said. "We came out flat. We're moving like we should, (but) weren't passing like we did in the first half. We do what we did in the first half, and it's a different game."
The win was the second in three games for the Warriors.
Wednesday's win is good, but Russo knows that the Warriors need to put together a strong second half to the year as well.
The Warriors started last year 5-5 before finishing last season 1-6-1.
"I've referenced last year quite a bit -- how we started last year, how we're looking this year," Russo said. "We did lose 10 seniors. About seven of those seniors were starters. This is a brand new goalie, a brand new defensive line.
"We're really just trying to pull it together as fast as we can, just trying to find that momentum. We have this, we have a game Saturday morning. We're trying to just keep going with what happened tonight."
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