Lions win first girls soccer title in decades – Stars and Stripes

AFNORTH's Maggie Masse ties up Sigonella's Charlize Cano on Thursday, May 23, 2024, in the championship game of the DODEA European Division III girls soccer tournament at Ramstein High School, Germany. The Lions won 2-0. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – A soccer field is a lot bigger than a basketball court. But the AFNORTH girls have found success on both this school year.
The Lions, who won the DODEA European Division III hoops title in February, made it a double Thursday by downing Sigonella 2-0 in the soccer championship game at Ramstein High School.
Finja Liebing, a senior who was one of half a dozen players to switch out sneakers for cleats, scored both goals in the last 15 minutes of the contest.
“I wanted it,” she said of the program’s first title in decades. “I wanted it bad.”
Isabella Guest, also a two-time champion this year, set up the winning goal with a free kick. She fired it toward the goal, it bounced off a player or two before getting through to Liebing. She took the ball out of the air off a bounce and fired it into the goal.
“I was kind of the safety,” she said.
AFNORTH coach Christy Wise said the team has practiced such a scenario and Liebing was designated the player to clean up a ball that might get through.
“She was the backup player,” Wise said.
Liebing’s second goal with just a few minutes left was all her. She received the ball around the 30-yard line on the field and dribbled through a handful of Sigonella defenders on the right side of the goal before firing it home.
Liebing said she might have been the one who scored, but the whole team deserved credit.
“I’m just so proud of my team,” said the German national, who finished with seven goals and two assists in the tournament.
AFNORTH's Finja Liebing provided all the offense that the Lions would need with both goals in a 2-0 victory over Sigonella on Thursday, May 23, 2024, in the championship game of the DODEA European Division III girls soccer tournament. Sigonella's Arabella Jones matched her stride for stride on this run. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Seemingly every time Ryleigh Denton – Sigonella's leading scorer – touched the ball Thursday, May 23, 2024, in the championsip of the DODEA European Division III girls soccer tournament there were multiple defenders trying to take the ball away, such as Sara Nix, left, and Shannon O'Connor. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
In spite of the efforts of AFNORTH's Blanca Briz Susin, Sigonella's Isabelle Belezza got a shot off. But the Jaguars couldn't get the ball in goal in a 2-0 victory by the Lions in the DODEA European Division III girls soccer tournament at Ramstein High School in Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Both teams only had a few good chances to score. But Avery Sweeney and Laney Reardon, AFNORTH’s and Sigonella’s keepers respectively, were up to the task through the majority of the game. Much of the action took place in the midfield. Lion defenders continually frustrated Sigonella’s scoring duo of Ryleigh Denton and Charlize Caro, with multiple defenders seemingly around them every time they touched the ball within kicking distance of the goal.
The Lions finished with a 12-9 shots-on-goal advantage. Sweeney had seven saves and Reardon five – including a diving stop of Selah Skariah’s attempt that was the best chance either team had until Guest’s free kick.
Wise, whose husband Matt coached the girls basketball team, didn’t want to give too much credit for the carryover between the sports. But she said “learning to win and then knowing what it takes is a skill and they did get that.”
Sigonella coach Andy Reardon said the Lions deserved the victory – their second in two days over the Jaguars following a 4-1 win Wednesday that finished out round-robin play.
“They’re a very good team,” Reardon said. “Both teams really wanted to win. Not everyone can win and today, it wasn’t us.”
Reardon’s team will lose five seniors and Denton, who is transferring. But he got some solace Thursday from the play of sophomore Madison Hoy, who continually got to the ball before everyone else in the midfield.
“She was brilliant,” Reardon said. “She and Charlize will be our foundation next year.”
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