Haley Gschrey’s penalty kick put Freedom on the scoreboard first and that’s where they stayed clinching a 2-0 victory over city rival Liberty last Thursday at Liberty.

“There was a handball in the box, and I put it to the right bottom corner. The keeper almost had it, though,” said Gschrey.

Leading 1-0 at the half, the Pates came back with more attack, signaling the Hurricane defense to step up the pressure.

“It happens every game that usually someone’s just on me, so I have to play my game and keep focusing on where the player is and who to play on and off of,” Gschrey said. “Our attack was better [in the second half]. We had most of the possession.”

The last five minutes, however, was all Hurricanes for the most part, when they had an opportunity on a corner, but with 35 seconds left in regulation, it was Gschrey who scored again.

“My coach screamed at me to take it to the corner, but I wanted one more because I was having a rough game so I tried dribbling through everyone and I shot,” Gschrey said. “It was really crazy because all the Liberty fans were screaming so a lot of pressure.”

Prior to Gschrey’s second goal, it was all Freedom could do to protect their narrow lead.

“As soon as we got into our groove, we had control and we knew we could do it. We were playing too much in the middle, so we decided to try to go out to the sides more because we have fast girls on the sides so we figured if we set balls up we could get them,” said Patriot holding mid Lily Judge. “It’s awesome. It feels so intense but our girls work really well as a unit.”