Bolivar Liberators Soccer

Congratulations to the following Liberators on thier All-Region Honors!

First Team:
Bradley Stillwagon – senior – midfielder
Kyle “Toad” Slagle – senior – defender
Matt Magana – junior – forward

Honorable Mention:
Jordan Stanton – senior – goalkeeper

Special Honors:
Bradley Stillwagon – CO REGION PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Matt Magana – REGION OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Toad Slagle – REGION DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Steve Fast – COACH OF THE YEAR

Congratulations to the following Liberators on earning All-District honors for the 2009 season:

First team:
Bradley Stillwagon – senior – midfield
Kyle Toad Slagle – senior – defender
Jordan Stanton – senior – goalkeeper
Matt Magana – junior – forward
Jacob Hampton – junior – midfield

Second Team:
Seth Hopwood – senior – defender
Sterling Roberts – junior – defender
Mitchell Waters – sophomore – forward

Honorable Mention:
Nick Preston – senior defender
Kyle Shoemaker – senior midfielder

If you are looking for some great photos of the final four, below is some information from Steve Olsen who runs sgfsoccer.com

I’m working on editing and uploading the over 1000 photos I took this weekend, as well as the many videos that I’ve already posted. This website is a labor of love, in equal parts labor and love, with 9 hour days on site Friday and Saturday followed by as many hours editing, writing and uploading.

Your support of my efforts by purchasing photos will help me continue this at the level we would all like to see. Click on any photo in the slideshow below to be taken to my sales site where you can purchase prints or get the image reproduced on aprons, playing cards and plenty of other options. Just in time for the holidays, share your joy with friends and family. I’ll be uploading throughout the day. I’ll be uploading all the photos from throughout the season next weekend, after Thanksgiving

The Bolivar Liberators fell in defeat to the #1 ranked team in the state St. Dominic by a score of 0-7. The score was only 1-0 at half, but Dominic would open up the second half with a couple of quick goals and all hopes of a Liberator championship diminished quickly. The Liberators finish with the 2nd place trophy and a 23-6 record. More details later. Congrats Bolivar Liberators on a fantastic season! More details about the game and other info to come….check back soon.

The Liberators pulled off a dramatic victory in overtime against Cape Notre Dame. The winning goal came in the 92nd minute of the first overtime. Bradley Stillwagon scored the game winner off of a flip throw by Matt Magana. More details later on this result. Bolivar now improves to 23-5 and will contend for it’s first ever state championship. Game time is noon, 11/20 vs St. Dominic.

Playing on a super fast turf surface, the Liberators struggled to get into a continuous flow with the game, but the came out really strong in the first half and had several good opportunities to put Notre Dame away early. The shots and opportunities would just not fall. One shot which was scored, was not allowed as a goal by the official (we have proof with a photo that will be posted later). Jacob Hampton headed the ball into the goal. The ball hits the side net, but the keeper found a way to get a hand on it and throw it back out. The ball was then cleared by a defender. Although upset with the non allowance of the goal, the Liberators did not allow that to deter them from thier mission. The continued to play hard and the game would end up 0-0 at the half. Notre Dame would open up the second half with lots of hustle and some good possession of the ball. The Liberators struggled to get into a groove early in the half. The crowds for both teams (large crowds!) were growing restless in aticipation of the first goal to be scored. That goal came in the 54th minute when #8 (?) found the back of the net with a rocket shot from 18 yards out. The Liberators were upset, but they had been in this position before, being down by a goal against a good team. They did not panic and in the 64th minute, Mitchell Waters placed a shot into the goal off a corner kick from Toad Slagle. The Liberators gained some life and a little momentum, but Notre Dame would really press hard trying to get the winning goal. Keeper Jordan Stanton made a huge diving save when he punched the ball one handed out away from the goal. Sweeper Toad Slagle also came up with a big save when he stepped in front of an open goal and took a shot off his chest. The Liberators would not be denied! On the other end, Liberators Jacob Hampton and Bradley Stillwagon would have some great shots and opportunites, but those shots would not get by the stingy Notre Dame defense either. Finally the game would go to overtime. Some fatigue had set in for Bolivar, but the guys would not give up and go away. In the 92nd minute, Matt Magana sent a ball across the box from a flip throw. Bradley Stillwagon read the ball perfectly and fired a shot back across the goal with his head and found the side net for the game winner sending the Liberators to the title game!

With this win, this team now ties a team record for most wins in a season with 23. The senior class continues to extend thier own record of most wins by a class over the four year period. They are now at 80 wins in four years. Some other stats/info:

Shots: Bolivar 12, Notre Dame 6
Corners: Bolivar 7, Notre Dame 5

Notre Dame has been in four consecutive final fours, winning the state championship twice.

The large crowds for both teams were great!

CONGRATULATIONS LIBERATORS!!

For the third time in program history, the Bolivar Liberators are headed to St. Louis to compete for a state championship. Details on the game will be short for now, due to me just getting home at 1:15 am. Scoring as follows:

6th minute, #15 Pembroke Hill with a header shot off a throw in
60th minute, Sterling Roberts, Bolivar defender, assisted by Matt Magana off a throw in
Penalty kick shootout – Toad makes a great save on Pembroke Hill first shot. Liberator shooters, Bradley Stillwagon, Mitchell Waters, Tinash Zungura, Matt Magana, and Toad Slagle all make their shots to defeat the Raiders 5-4 in the shootout!

Game notes:
Liberator Sterling Roberts scored his first ever goal at any level in his soccer career!
Toad has now made three big saves in PK shootouts this season
Pembroke Hills streak of five consecutive final fours ends.
Bolivar improves to 22-5 on the season. Second most wins in program history.
Nearly all scoring opportunities from both teams came off corner kicks and throw ins. Both teams had difficulty getting past the defenses.
The crazy celebration with the players and student body was a beautiful site to see!

For the second consecutive season, the Liberators will face Kansas City Pembroke Hill in the class 2 state quarterfinal game. Last season, Pembroke beat the Liberators 3-2 in double overtime. Pembroke defeated Harrisonville 4-3 to win the district title. A wild game that was tied 0-0 at half, saw seven goals scored in the second half. Pembroke record improves to 17-9.

Game time is 6:30 pm at Harrisonville. Directions to come later.

For the second consecutive year, the Bolivar Liberators came away with the class 2 district 5 championship! The Liberators would dominate the game offensively and defensively. Jacob Hampton scored the first goal of the night off a header shot in the 7th minute. The goal came off a flip throw from Matt Magana. That would prove to be the only goal of the first half. Bolivar had some great opportunities including a open goal miss and a ball that hit the cross bar, bounced down and appeared to cross the line, but no goal this time so the score remained 1-0 at half. The Liberators would come out just as strong in the second half. In the 44th minute, the left footed Tinash Zungura would recieve a thru pass from Magana. Tinash met the ball in space, took one dribble and fired the RIGHT footed shot from the 18 past the keeper. One minute later, Marshfield would get their second and last shot of the night when the official called a pass back to the keeper. The indirect kick was taken 10 yards from the goal. The Liberator team tried to fill in the goal and block the shot, but no luck on this unfortunate call. Both coaches agreed that this was a bad call and the official after the game admitted his error, but as everyone knows, sometimes you get calls like this and sometimes you don’t. Either way, it was a good learning experience for the Liberators. Marshfield was now really fired up with the game 2-1, but one minute later Bradley Stillwagon would dampen the comeback with a header goal off a corner kick from Mitchell Waters. Bolivar senior Kyle Shoemaker would finish up the scoring for the night in the 75th minute with an assist from Magana on the throw in. The keeper would boblble the ball, another Marshfield player tried to clear it, but Shoemaker was there to challange the clear and push it across the line.

Congratulation Bolivar Liberators on a very well played game! You took control from the opening whistle and never looked back. Now it is time to get ready for the winner of district 6….Harrisonville or Pembroke Hill….we will know on Friday.

Bolivar is now 21-5 on the season.

Rufio, Rufio, Rufiiiiioooooooooooooo!

Photo courtesy of Rick Condren

The Liberators defeated the Webb City Cardinals tonight by a 4-0 margin to advance to their fourth straight district final game. Scoring as follows:
Matt Magana assisted by Bradley Stillwagon (4th minute)

Timothy Armstrong unassisted (34th minute)
Timothy Armstrong unassisted (35th minute)
Kyle Shoemaker unassisted (76th minute)

The Liberators outshot the Cardinals by a 29-4 margin.

The Liberators are now 20-5 on the season. This is the 3rd consecutive season with at least 20 wins.

NICE JOB LIBERATORS, NOW IT IS TIME TO GET READY FOR MARSFHIELD!!

The Liberators and the Zizzers have faced each other only three times in their history. Two of the three games have gone to overtime and all three have been one goal differential…..these two teams really step up for each other and all three games have just been wars. The Liberators knew going into the match, the #8 seed Zizzers were not a typical #8 seed. The Liberators would get on the board first in the 25th minute when Mitchell Waters found Bradley Stillwagon on an overlap. Bradley beat a defender with the dribble and then past the keep with a left footed shot. The game would remain 1-0 at half. Bolivar would come out strong in the second half and in the 45th minute they would go up 2-0 on a header goal by Bradley Stillwagon (Magana assist). You could feel the momentum shift to the Liberators, but it would not last long. West Plains would score on a header when Liberator goalie Jordan Stanton went up high for the ball, brought it down to the ground, went to grab it and then was run over by an oncoming Zizzer who got the ball across the line. The goal gave the Zizzers a lot of energy and just a few minutes later they tied the game when #10 beat a defender and made an nice 20 yard shot into the side net. The game remainded tied 2-2 the rest of the way. The Liberators had plenty of chances to put away the zizzers, including three open net misses, but they just could not get the shots to fall. To overtime and then double overtime we went….still no scoring. Finally the game would go to penalty kick shootout. Toad would step in goal for the Liberators and save the first two shots from the Zizzers. The Liberators would miss their first shot, but Mitchell Waters, Tinash Zungura, and Matt Magana (game winner) would score their shots for a 3-1 shootout victory! Final score Bolivar 3, West Plains 2. Congratulation Liberators on a big win and way to perservere a tough first round game. The Liberators will now face Webb City at 4:30 on Monday in the district semi-final.

Congratulations to Coach Nick Schmitt and the Zizzers on a hard fought battle. You guys really played hard and definetely did not make things easy for us.

The Liberators improve to 19-5 on the season.