The EPC soccer championships continued Thursday with semifinals when Freedom’s boys prevailed over Parkland, 1-0, but Liberty’s boys lost to Pleasant Valley, 1-0.

The Patriots had not faced the Trojans all season and hadn’t won a game against Parkland in the past three years until last Thursday night at Whitehall High School.

“Getting a goal early set the tone,” said Freedom senior Bradley Turocy. “We did get run on a lot the end of the first half, but the second half started up and we really wanted to win this game. I haven’t beaten Parkland once in soccer my entire four years, so this was the greatest feeling.”

It was Turocy who scored the only goal of the game on an assist by Daniel Ramirez.

“We started the game coming at them really hard and the ball just came to me,” Ramirez said. “I knew Brad was going to be up there because he’s my guy, and I passed it to him.”

The goal came less than halfway through the first half.

“We were doing a great job controlling the midfield in the first ten minutes and Dan turned on the kid, I lost Connor Burke and I made a through ball, Dan played a through ball over the top and I got onto it,” said Turocy. “We switched to more of a defensive position toward the end of the game. We wanted to keep possession and keep the ball out of our half.”

The second half was quiet offensively, making the defense’s job even more crucial.

I felt like there was a lot of pressure, yes. We just kept focus on the game, focus on the ball, and focus on the players,” said Freedom defender Wes Young. “It was immediate joy.”

The victory took the Patriots to the final, facing Pleasant Valley.

“We’re all really excited. We beat Pleasant Valley in the regular season but that means nothing. We have to really come hard,” Turocy said.