Perhaps no one was wishing time away more than the Freedom boys soccer team last Thursday night when the Patriots knocked off the Liberty Hurricanes 2-1.

"I was looking at the clock about every second," said D.J. Bast, who was credited with an assist in the first half for the Patriots. "It's always the best feeling to beat Liberty. It's always intense. It's such a physical game, you can get caught up in it."

The Hurricanes struck first when Colin McIntyre scored on an assist by Sammy Aviles in the first half. The Patriots responded when Chris Szymanski scored on an assist by Bast, also in the first half.

"We got a corner, and T.J. [Czerwinski] crossed it in. D.J. got a header, it hit the crossbar and came down. It bounced, and I was able to head it in. It felt great. I never scored against Liberty," said Szymanski.

With the score tied at halftime, Freedom coach Michael O'Connell stressed defense.

Szymanski said, "We talked about keeping up the defensive pressure. And instead of kicking the ball up, we were going to try to keep it down, but we still needed to play with a defensive focus."

A lot of Freedom's defensive pressure was aimed at Liberty's Colin Muller, who tends to slide behind the defense, creating opportunities for the Hurricanes. Freedom's mids, Judson Freidl, Adam Capuano, and Giancarlo Casas took turns staying on Muller.

O'Connell said, "Our goal was to disrupt him and play our game. We needed to play smart, aggressive, and hard. We wanted to get our defense organized, and then our goal was to open up and attack."

Patriot forward, Mezen Abdulla, put Freedom ahead in the second half.

"I got the ball at about the 25 or 30 and hit a curve around the goalkeeper. It was the best feeling in the world," said Abdulla, "but I was scared they were going to come back."

That certainly appeared to be the case, especially in the final minutes, when the Hurricanes methodically moved the ball to create scoring opportunities.

Freedom goalkeeper, John Eltringham, said, "That's what they do. They move the ball well. The second half was just as threatening as the first, if not more. Our defense had my back, and I had theirs."

The Patriots celebrated on the field, having beaten their archrival, and having boosted their conference record to 8-7.

EPC playoffs

Liberty won its opening round game of the Eastern Pennsylvanica Conference playoffs Saturday, knocking off Pocono Mountain East 2-1 on the road in penalty kicks.

The Hurricanes got on the board first on a Michael Visperas goal before Pocono tied it in the second half on a score from Christian Barth. Both goals were unassisted.

Liberty's Anthony Silva made 16 saves as Pocono outshot the 'Canes 28-21.

The Hurricanes moved on to Tuesday's semifinals, which came after Press deadlines. The guys were schedules to play Stoudsburg at 8 p.m. at Pleasant Valley High School.