Cheney senior midfielder/forward Lelie Holland tries to keep West Valley defender Madeline Liberg away from the ball during second-half action last Thursday.
Hoping to play more soccer in November, the Cheney High girls soccer team found its season ending in October - and for the second year in a row by the same opponent.
Madeline Liberg gave the West Valley Eagles all they would need with a goal in the first half last Thursday on the Lady Blackhawks' pitch. Cheney goalkeeper Melissa Aris made an initial sliding stop of Liberg's breakaway shot in the 33rd minute, but couldn't hang on and the ball bounced slowly into the net giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead they would never relinquish.
Abby McConnell added two second-half goals for some insurance, and fourth-seeded West Valley eliminated the third-seeded Lady Blackhawks 3-0. The Eagles advanced to the District 7 2A finals Oct. 31 against East Valley after then knocking off Clarkston Saturday while Cheney ended it's season at 8-8 overall.
Lady Blackhawks head coach Nels Radtke said his players got caught up trying to match West Valley's more physical-style instead of their own finesse game. Cheney had its opportunities to score, hitting the post three times and a close-in shot that went just wide.
"The effort and heart was there, they just took us out of our game," he said. "They're (West Valley) just peaking at the right time now."
On another occasion a Cheney player was fouled inside the West Valley goal box but didn't get the call. Radtke said while he never encourages his players to "take a dive," it was a chance where a fall might have helped sway the official.
West Valley out shot Cheney 7-5, with Aris making four saves.
Despite the earlier-than-hoped ending, Radtke was happy with the way the season went overall and how his young team progressed and played, despite losing three key returners from the 2016 team at the beginning of the season. He said the Lady Blackhawks' performance was reflected in the amount of respect given them during the annual end-of-season coaches meeting to make all-Great Northern League selections.
"It was a fun season and the girls really did play well," Radtke added.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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