Despite starting the high school soccer season a month later than usual, everything felt the same at Freedom where the Patriots defeated Northampton, 2-1, in a thrilling overtime victory on Sept. 25.

“I thought it was well-delivered, but it felt nice, the final goal, and overall, the team played well. I just feel really happy right now,” said Taher Kitabwalla, who scored the game winner on an assist by Daniel Ramirez. “It was a tough game, both teams were really tough, but we were pushing at the end.”

Neither team scored in the first half, and the Pates made a switch to three in the midfield with Ramirez, Peter Tichy, and Sebastian Garces.

“Northampton was a little more physical than what we were used to in the beginning of the game, and I think it kind of shifted our mentality a little bit,” said Freedom head coach Matt Reightler. ‘Once the second half came, we settled into things a little more and had a lot more possession toward the end of the game and in overtime. It started to click.”

The Konkrete Kids scored first, however, on a goal by Adam Wetherhold, about nine minutes into the second half.

Ten minutes later, Garces took the ball down the middle and got off a shot but missed. Soon after, Tichy tied the game, burying the ball in the top corner.

“The ball came right out on a silver platter. We’ve been waiting for this moment for awhile now,” said Tichy after the game. “In the midfield, we were getting beat a lot, so we needed to be more compact. We switched to three in the middle, and we worked well in there.”

Going into overtime, the Pates talked about their strength as a team and that they would need to pick things up even more than in the second half.

With three minutes remaining, Kitabwalla scored the game-winner.

Freedom goalie Tristan Willey made four saves.

“We held possession well when we tried to,” Coach Reightler said. “It was really nice to see Austin Hoffert back after his injury. He owned that defense today, and if he plays like that, we’re going to give up very few goals this year.”

The boys soccer team lost a game to Nazareth 2-0.

In the first half, Nazareth senior Alex Marouchoc scored on a penalty shot. In the second half, Nazareth senior Matt Bayda scored unassisted.

Nazareth junior goalie Nolan Booth made five saves.

Northampton senior goalie Jackson Gilstrap made four saves.

VOLLEYBALL

In volleyball, the Kids lost to Liberty by scores of: 18-25, 25-16, 12-25, 12-25.

But the girls picked up a huge win on the road at Nazareth Tuesday night.

The K-Kids won in five games: 25-13, 21-25, 25-23. 25-27, 15-13.

The girls will face Nazareth again, this time at home Thursday in another key matchup.

“It was a very big match last night,” head coach Jessica Finlayson said Wednesday. “They played so well and did a great job.

“They worked hard and showed how they can win big matches.”