High School Sports

Retooled Rebels: Crestview wins shortened game against Liberty

LIBERTY -- Replacing nine seniors is never an easy task.

Entering the year, the Crestview Rebels have had to do just that, filling in nine holes in the lineup. There's been an adjustment period through three games, but the team's 8-0 win over Liberty on Monday is a good start toward what the Rebels will look to achieve in 2024.

"It's been a little rough to start," first-year Crestview coach Maura Belding said. "I think just finding everybody's place on the field (has been challenging). We did lose nine seniors, but we have real good depth. And I think everybody just needs those first couple games to get back to it. So I think this was a good confidence booster for the girls.

"I was just hoping to see a good movement and obviously some goals. Our last two games were a 2-2 tie (against East Liverpool) and a 0-0 tie (against Newton Falls). And that 0-0 tie was a little difficult not getting anything on the board, but I think they really got themselves together and bounced back from that game."

The Leopards controlled pace for roughly the first 10 minutes, but once Crestview found its groove, the Rebels took over.

With so many lineup spots to fill, Belding used these early-season games to experiment and see who fit where.

"We changed our lineup a bit from our normal starters, just to get a feel of things," Belding said. "I knew the beginning would be a little shaky, but I think it still, all in all, went really well."

In a three-minute span, Crestview scored a trio of goals to take control of the contest.

Brianna DiCross, Alexa DiCross and Delaney Hively each connected with twine to help the Rebels get on the board. Brianna DiCross scored a pair of goals during the game.

Bella Novak, Katey MacKay, Mazi Hoon and Madeline Long rounded out the team's goals Monday.

Due to a lack of numbers on the Liberty sideline, the game was called with 17 minutes remaining in the second half.

While this is her first year at the helm of the program, this isn't Belding's first year with the program. She was a 2016 graduate of Crestview and also spent time coaching in the program before this season.

Entering the year, she was apprehensive about the amount of seniors leaving the program, but was pleasantly surprised to see that everyone else returned and then some.

"I was nervous about it at first, just because it's such a large number (of kids we'd have to replace). I didn't know if we were gonna get the numbers back, but we did, and we've had some people join the team that have been really good assets so far," Belding said. "Initially I was a little nervous about it, but I think these girls are finding their way, and we're just building back up to what we were last year."

The Rebels move to 1-0-2 on the season. They play Cardinal Mooney on Thursday.

Liberty is fielding a girls soccer program for the first time since 2022 looking to build its way back up.

"This is a really young team," Leopards coach Eileen Garcia said. "We didn't have a team last year, and so we have primarily freshmen this year. Over half the team is freshman girls, then a few other brand new players that have never played before, so it's just a really young team.

"We need to keep coming to practice. That's where we improve. We just need to keep trying to prepare for the next game and the next game. Our main focus this year is fundamentals. Mastering the fundamentals, and because we're a young, small team, we've just got to make sure we conserve our energy passing, so we don't wear ourselves down just chasing after balls."

Liberty (0-2-0) faces Newton Falls on Sept. 5.