Pleasant Valley’s first-half defense denied Liberty two goals in the Bears’ 1-0 victory over the Hurricanes on Sept. 6 at Liberty.

Owen West’s shot on an assist by Connor Ohl with 8:30 remaining in the first half was cleared by a Pleasant Valley defender at the goal line.

Then, at the 6:00 mark, Pleasant Valley goalie Zachary Prator saved a free kick by Maxamiliano Espinoza.

Liberty keeper Thomas Horvath made two consecutive saves for the Hurricanes on Royce Thompson’s free kick to keep the score, 0-0, at halftime

“First half, we were slow getting to the ball, and they had a crowded midfield, and we’re a team that wants to build up in the midfield, but you can’t do that when they crowd it the way they did,” said Liberty coach Jason Horvath. “When we got away from that in the second half and started bypassing the midfield, and then playing back into it and getting the ball wide, we had some more success going forward.”

Liberty’s Diego Monteiro Almeida won a 50-50 ball and passed to Deklan McCane whose shot rolled across the front of the net.

Espinoza had two more free kicks in addition to an attempt in the first half, but the ‘Canes couldn’t capitalize.

Andrew Espitia’s shot to the left corner resulted in the game-winner for the Bears in the 72nd minute.

The Hurricanes took four shots in the last five minutes, and a Liberty corner kick bounced just outside the goal as the ‘Canes pushed for an equalizer.

“Unfortunately, they caught the break that opened up the scoring, and we couldn’t finish,” Horvath said. “We had some chances at the end, we fought hard, I’m proud of the boys, but those are games that we gotta learn from.”