SportsSoccer

Leopards garner comeback victory

Sophomore forward Rachel Lieberman (#11) gets past Claremont's Katie Percell (#24) and pass the ball to a nearby teammate. Lieberman scored in La Verne's 2-0 win. / photo by Summer Herndon
Sophomore forward Rachel Lieberman (#11) gets past Claremont’s Katie Percell (#24) and pass the ball to a nearby teammate. Lieberman scored in La Verne’s 2-0 win. / photo by Summer Herndon

by Michael Anklin
Staff Writer

On Friday, it just was not meant to be. On Wednesday, it had been a long time coming – victory for the University of La Verne’s women’s soccer team.

On Oct. 9, the Leopards suffered a 2­1 loss against Chapman’s Panthers.

Freshman forward Heather Cooper scored the goal for La Verne in the third minute.

Two of Chapman’s nine shots on goal were transformed into points by the Panthers’ Kristie Hoback in the 44th and the 66th minute.

“They were a pretty good team, they were pretty physical,” said Wendy Zwissler, ULV head coach. “If anything we needed to be a little bit more physical with them. But I think we played a good game, we played hard, we just were beaten that day.”

For the game Wednesday, Zwissler had great confidence to come back victorious. And redemption came. It came late, but it did, as the Leopards controlled the game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS).

ULV’s 17 shots on goal as opposed to Claremont’s three spoke a clear language. Nevertheless, the ball seemed to have a mind of its own. It took the Leopards a while – well into the second half – to finally use their dominance to their advantage and score.

In the 52nd minute, sophomore forward Rachel Lieberman scored the winning goal for ULV. Freshman defender Giselle Ortega scored the game’s other goal against CMS.

“We were working hard, and it finally paid off,” Lieberman said. “We’re a lot more skilled than them. Sometimes when we play bad teams, we play down to their level, but we finally picked it up in the end and played our own game. That’s when we started scoring.”

Michael Anklin, Editorial Director
Michael Anklin
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Summer Herndon, Photography Editor
Summer Herndon
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