Liberty student athletes prepare for collegiate soccer
December 20, 2011
Kimberly Fry, Liberty senior midfielder (right), and Nicole Candioglos, Skyline senior midfielder, brace for impact with the soccer ball during a Sept. 6 match. By Christopher Huber
Liberty High School seniors Cassidy Nangle and Kimi Fry know success on the soccer field isn’t something that’s just handed to you.
“You just have to make sure you put in the dedication and hard work, and it really pays off for you,” Fry said. “You can’t just hope for it, you have to work for it every day.”
For Nangle, soccer has been something she keeps going back to because even though the sport requires time, dedication and sacrifice, there’s nothing sweeter in the world than winning a close game or helping a team make it to the state championship match.
“There’s no other greater feeling than that reward, that payoff,” she said. “Success requires sacrifice. It’s a sport that lives by that quote. I’ve thrived on that. I feel like you have to be very self-motivated, very team-oriented to be successful in this sport.”
Issaquah’s Audrey Thomas named 4A KingCo most valuable player
November 29, 2011
Several athletes make all-league soccer team
Audrey Thomas (left), Issaquah junior midfielder, and Brooke Bofto, Skyline sophomore midfielder, battle during the Oct. 18 soccer match. By Greg Farrar
One of the smallest players in KingCo Conference 4A girls soccer had a mighty big impact this season.
Audrey Thomas, just 4-feet-11, was a dynamo on the pitch for Issaquah High School. The junior midfielder led the conference in scoring and sparked the Eagles to the 4A state tournament.
She was also selected the league’s most valuable player.
“She won it by a landslide,” Issaquah coach Tom Bunnell said. “She was just so dynamic.”
Although on the small side, Thomas commanded respect from every team she played against.
Thomas scored a league-leading 10 goals and had 11 assists to tally a league-leading 31 points.
“She is extremely quick and she can jump like nobody’s business,” Bunnell said. “She has the whole package. She has a great knowledge of the game and very good vision. Teams would come up with plans trying to stop her, and she always would find a way to avoid that plan. She is tough physically and can take a hit.”
Thomas was joined on the all-KingCo first team by teammate Lyrik Fryer, a freshman defender.
“Lyrik is fantastic,” Bunnell said. “She really took to the position. She had a great freshman season.”
Fryer’s speed made her a force on defense.
‘Further than it’s ever been’ for Liberty soccer team
November 22, 2011
Liberty takes second at 3A state soccer championship
Kali Youngdahl (8), Liberty High School sophomore midfielder, is mobbed by teammates Mollie Cooke (left) and Kailiana Johnson after putting the Patriots up 2-0 with a goal in the sixth minute. By Greg Farrar
After the Liberty High School girls soccer team dropped its first match of the season to the Skyline Spartans on Sept. 6, the Patriots made a commitment to themselves — and each other.
“We never wanted to feel that way again,” Liberty starting forward and co-captain Cassidy Nangle said.
Eighteen straight victories, including the 1-0 win against Eastside Catholic Nov. 18 to catapult Liberty into the 3A state championship game, brought the Patriots closer to their ultimate goal: a state title.
The Nov. 19 state championship at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup pitted experience against unfamiliarity as Liberty faced Seattle Prep, the defending state champions who have played in the title game five of the past six years.
It was Liberty’s first time in the final game in the school’s 34-year history.
After battling hard into the final seconds of the game, the Patriots fell to the Panthers, 3-2.
Local high schools’ fall sports teams wrap up
November 22, 2011
Girls cross country finally makes state
Kim Bussing Issaquah High School
Issaquah High School’s girls cross country team made a triumphant return to the state championships earlier this month, finishing 10th overall and placing 21st out of 72 teams.
The 2011 season commemorated the team’s first return to state in 13 years after succeeding in various invitationals, finishing second at the KingCo Conference and placing fifth at districts.
Notable runners include senior Rachel Osgood, who placed 32nd overall at state; freshmen Ellie Clawson, Cayla Seligman, Abby Wilson and Ellie Hendrickson; and sophomore Amanda Chalfant, all of who participated at state.
“Everyone improved drastically,” captain Madison Callan said. “The team worked really hard this year, and we ended up holding a season record of 9-1.”
Liberty falls to Seattle Prep, takes second at state
November 19, 2011
NEW — 5:45 p.m. Nov. 19, 2011
Battling into the last seconds of the game, the Liberty High School Patriots were defeated by the Seattle Prep Panthers 3-2 in the 3A state soccer championship game Saturday at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.
After Liberty junior Kiana Hafferty found the back of the net with an assisted goal from senior Cassidy Nangle only two minutes into the game, sophomore Kali Youngdahl slipped a goal by Panthers goal keeper Abby Rockwell. Kimi Fry assisted the goal six minutes into the game.
Liberty coach Jamie Giger said being up 2-0 is often the one of the most difficult places to be in a competitive game.
“You feel comfortable,” she said. “You feel that you have the game…that’s just the way it goes. They came back. Give it to them, they played really hard when they were down.”
Liberty girls soccer team takes out Chieftains, Seagulls to reach semifinals
November 15, 2011
Kiana Hafferty, Liberty High School junior forward, threatens to score again in the second period against Columbia River Nov. 9 after giving the Patriots the early lead in a 2-1 victory. By Greg Farrar
It has been a while but the Liberty High School girls soccer team has reached the Class 3A state semifinals again.
Liberty defeated Columbia River, 2-1, Nov. 9 in the first round of the state tournament, and then downed Everett, 2-0, Nov. 12 in the quarterfinals.
The Patriots, 17-1-0, meet Eastside Catholic at 4 p.m. Nov. 18 in the semifinals at Puyallup’s Sparks Stadium. Meadowdale and Seattle Prep meet in the other semifinal at 2 p.m. The winners play for the state title at 2 p.m. Nov. 19 and the losers meet at 10 a.m. to settle third and fourth place.
This is the fourth time Liberty has reached the semifinals. The last time was in 2001, when the Patriots fell to West Valley of Yakima, 2-0. Liberty also lost to Lakeside, 2-1, on a shootout in 2000, and fell to Highline, 2-1, on a shootout in 1998. Each time the Patriots finished third in the tournament.
The KingCo Conference 3A/2A champions reached the Final Four thanks to its victory against visiting Everett.
Liberty girls soccer advances to state quaterfinals
November 9, 2011
NEW — 8:40 p.m. Nov. 9, 2011
With a 2-1 win over the Columbia River High School Chieftains on Wednesday, the Liberty Patriots advance to the quarterfinal match up in the state soccer tournament.
Liberty junior Kiana Hafferty gave the Patriots a quick 1-0 spark with an early goal in the first half. Despite an aggressive pace set by the Chieftains throughout the first half, Liberty was able to maintain the 1-0 lead into halftime.
After Easton Kawawaki, a Chieftain sophomore, kicked a goal passed Patriot keeper Macaire Ament four minutes into the second half, Liberty senior and team co-captain Cassidy Nangle answered back with a game-winning goal for the Patriots.
“They’re a good team, I wouldn’t take that way from them at all,” Nagle said, “but with the heart on this team, we got it done.”
The Patriots will face their next opponents, Everett, in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Saturday at Liberty.
Liberty High School Patriots win girls soccer finale
November 1, 2011
The Liberty High School girls soccer team completed another unbeaten KingCo Conference 3A/2A season Oct. 27 when the Patriots overwhelmed visiting Interlake, 6-0.
Liberty, which had already won the league title, finished KingCo play with a 14-0 record. Interlake, which entered the game in second place, finished at 10-3-1.
The Patriots, 15-1-0 overall, advance to the Class 3A state tournament and will host a first-round game Nov. 9.
Senior forward Cassidy Nangle led the Patriots against Interlake. She scored a hat trick, becoming the third Liberty player this season to score three or more goals in a game. Nangle has 13 goals on the season.
Kailiana Johnson scored her 14th goal, which leads the Patriots.
Nicolle Marlow had two goals for Liberty.
Goalkeeper Macaire Ament recorded her ninth shutout of the season.
Liberty High School alumna targets title role in ‘Annie Get Your Gun’
November 1, 2011
Liberty High School alumna Vicki Noon stars in the title role of 'Annie Get Your Gun' at Village Theatre. By Jay Koh/Village Theatre
The title star in “Annie Get Your Gun” — sharpshooter Annie Oakley, a folk heroine — is a coveted role for actresses. So, too, is Elphaba, the green-tinted protagonist in “Wicked” and a witch infamous for menacing Oz.
Vicki Noon claims both roles — Elphaba in “Wicked” as the mega-musical embarked on a national tour and Oakley in a soon-to-open production at Village Theatre.
The actress, a Liberty High School graduate, said the ties between the characters, outcast Elphaba and country bumpkin Oakley, extend beyond the person in the role.
“Both of them have kind of been on their own,” she said. “Both of them have kind of had to fend for themselves and pull up their bootstraps and get their life. They’re both very independent people.”
“Annie Get Your Gun” opens at Village Theatre on Nov. 9 and runs through the holiday season.
“For me, it’s one of those ultimate female empowerment stories,” said Kristin Culp, a co-choreographer on the show. “The song at the end, ‘Anything You Can Do,’ it’s a story about if you put your mind to doing anything, you can really become a star or the best, no matter who you are or what your upbringing is.”
The proto-feminist Oakley is a challenge for actresses in the role.
“You have to do the things that scare you, especially when you’re an actress,” Noon said before donning a red-and-turquoise getup for a photo shoot. “You have to put yourself in a situation that might scare you or make you feel a little uncomfortable. That’s the only way that you grow.”
Liberty girls cross country team gallops away with district title
October 28, 2011
NEW — 11:45 a.m. Oct. 28, 2011
The Liberty High School girls cross country team showed that history does repeat itself.
The Patriots, with four runners cracking the 20-minute mark, captured the Sea-King District 3A championship for the second straight year Thursday at Lake Sammamish State Park.
Liberty finished with 69 points. Mercer Island, which won the KingCo Conference 3A title the previous week, and Lakeside, of the Metro League, were second with 75 points.
The previous week Liberty finished second at the KingCo championships. It was a repeat of last year when Mercer Island won the KingCo title and Liberty was second only to see the Patriots come back to win the district championship.
