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Down 2-0, Liberty floods the nets in second half, beat Fauquier 4-2
The weather couldn’t have been more appropriate for the return of Stormie Malik.
Rain fell and wind blew last Wednesday as Stormie played her first game for the Liberty girls soccer team since injuring an ankle March 24.
The result was a 4-2 Eagle victory over Fauquier in a roller coaster game that saw Liberty notch three goals in the final 15 minutes after falling behind 2-0 at Kip Hall Field in Bealeton.
Both Malik and the weather played significant roles in the comeback, and neither would have been a factor if Liberty had played Fauquier on April 3, when the game was originally scheduled. The game was postponed, ironically, because of worry about inclement weather.
After raining early that day, the skies cleared by game time, but the decision to postpone had already been made. So the game was played last Wednesday instead, even though it was cold and the rain was constant.
“It was certainly better conditions then than it was here today,” Liberty coach Steve Peacock noted. “I wasn’t disappointed that it was postponed because it allowed Stormie to get recovery time…That extra week gave us a better opportunity against Fauquier.”
A senior captain and Liberty’s leading scorer, Malik would not have played April 3, Peacock said, but she was healthy to come off the bench Thursday in the 15th minute after Devan Locklin had given Fauquier a 1-0 lead.
“She just brought a whole new dimension to our team,” Peacock said. “She’s our most aggressive ball player. That helped, and it gave the girls confidence that she was back.
Malik assisted Liberty’s go-ahead goal with 12:20 left in the second half. She took a shot that bounced off the body of Fauquier goalkeeper Chelsea Strange, who tried to catch the wet ball. Sammi Selvage rebounded the ball and scored an easy goal to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead.
“It’s wet out, so that’s kind of expected,” Selvage said. “You just follow it up.”
The Eagles final goal with 7:53 remaining also came off a rebound. Strange deflected an initial shot by Selvage, but the Liberty sophomore secured the rebound and passed the ball across the goal face to Laura Ayers, who kicked in the insurance goal...
See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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