Liberty Hill girls soccer advances to state championship

The Liberty Hill girls soccer team returned to the state tournament after losing last year's state semifinal.

It was the first ever trip to state for the team last year but this year it was a different outcome the second time around.

Coach Darren Bauer's Panthers took an early 1-0 lead on undefeated Melissa off a Brooke Briscoe score.

Later Liberty Hill would go up 2-0 on a somewhat controversial goal by Kendal James. There was some debate on whether the ball crossed the line but officials say yes and it turned into the eventual game winner.

The Panthers win 2-1 and advance to its first ever state championship game.

Briscoe, a senior midfielder, said they were able to learn from last year's semifinal loss.

"It fueled us so much, it helped so much to be experienced from that. We were a lot less nervous coming into this game, we were more comfortable which helped us calm down and play and finish," Briscoe says.

That's something Coach Bauer agrees with. "We knew we deserved to be here again this year so to take that last hurdle that we couldn't last year is big for these girls."

The Panthers take on Stephenville for the title.