Newsome takes region

The Wolves advance to state by beating Freedom 4-1, their third win of the season against the Patriots.

By ROD GIPSON
Published February 12, 2005

LITHIA - This time, there would be no penalty kicks.

Just days after needing overtime and penalty kicks to win the district crown against Freedom, Newsome needed no such drama Friday night.

The second-year Wolves put an exclamation point on their season series against Freedom with a 4-1 win, claiming the region championship to advance to state.

Newsome (13-3-1) defeated Freedom in three of their four meetings this season.

"This was a great game," Newsome coach Kathy Dodd said. "They (Patriots) are a good team but I thought we outplayed them. We started a little slow but we kept the ball around the box and picked things up."

True to form most of the season, Newsome started slow offensively.

Neither team could generate much offense early and scoring chances were slim. The closest either came was when Newsome's Lisa Heise had a shot bounce off the crossbar midway through the opening half.

The second half was a different story.

With a lineup shift moving Danielle Joyce to midfield and using speedier players up front, Newsome started to take advantage of Freedom's defense and created more plays.

"We wanted to fortify the middle," Dodd said. "We put Joyce in the middle and wanted to use our speed up front. It seemed to work."

Newsome scored first 10 minutes into the second half when Hallie Barrett flipped a shot past Freedom goalkeeper Jana Belflower, who hesitated before charging the ball. After maintaining a one-score advantage for 20 minutes, the Wolves got two rapid goals.

Angela Murphy scored on a shot from inside the box, followed by a rebound goal from Megan Foley off a Kellie Fowke shot.

Then Freedom found some offensive success.

The Patriots (12-7-3) notched their first score on a Vanessa Rangel free kick from 15 yards out with 3:52 left. The Patriots then gave the Newsome crowd a scare with two successive shots from inside that box that Wolves goalkeeper Taryn Fabian hauled in to preserve the lead. Any hopes of a Freedom comeback ended a minute later when Jill Shriner completed scoring for Newsome.

"This is amazing," Shriner said. "This is my last year of high school soccer and I've been dreaming of this for four years. To make it to state, it's just unbelievable."

[Last modified February 12, 2005, 00:25:13]