Liberty boys soccer is striving to match last season’s success despite losing twelve seniors as yet another senior led roster enters their time to play on the varsity field.
Despite a rocky start, returning senior and varsity captain Tyler Wray has led this team to another competitive season against the tough KingCo conference alongside senior captain Brandon Niblock and junior captain Ethan Diaz.
“Being a captain my senior year has really meant a lot to me to help lead my friends and a bunch of really good guys I know and love,” Wray said.
This year’s roster is yet again stacked with twelve seniors that have set an example for the younger players on how to act on and off the field.
“Most of our leadership comes from example on the field and less in a vocal way,” Niblock said. “We will go shag a ball that no one else wants to get during practice. We do the little things.”
These leaders, alongside varsity Head Coach Darren Tremblay, have led the way for a team that has filled in many starting positions with players that last year were starters on the JV team, such as current starters sophomore Holden Koiker and junior Tanner Raymond.
“These guys have been waiting for their opportunity on varsity, and now that they have it they have stepped up big time,” Tremblay said.
One of the team’s signature wins so far on the season was taking down the formerly undefeated Bellevue Wolverines 1-0 in last minute thriller, as freshman Davis Noblat scored the game winning goal with only a few minutes to spare. This win sparked the team’s confidence heading into the rest of the regular season and hopefully carrying over into the post season.
“We had a lot of injuries in the first half of the season but we are really coming back to full strength,” Wray said. “Coming into playoffs I still have really high hopes that can make a good run.”
A few highlight games that will test these players this season are the games April 26 at Interlake, Mercer Island (senior night) on May 3, and May 6 against Sammamish, the only other team in the KingCo 2A conference.