Davis pours in three goals to push Pine Creek past Liberty

Liberty couldn’t find a way to stop Pine Creek’s Zach Davis.

The Eagles defeated the Lancers 3-1 in an anticipated matchup between Class 5A power squads, with all three of Pine Creek’s goals coming off Davis’ foot.

Check out photos from the game.

Pine Creek entered the game No. 4 in the Pikes Peak rankings and didn’t do anything to hurt its cause.
With snow falling  throughout the first half, the players had to adjust to conditions they hadn’t played in this year.
“The ball really moved fast,”  Davis said.

Not too fast for him, but perhaps throwing off some of Liberty’s scorers, who often came within inches of the goal.
Liberty did score the first goal when Ethan Wood got the ball past goalie Erich Marsheider.  Jake Martinez assisted on the goal.

Davis tried with an answer of his own, but his first attempt bounced off the top of the goal post.

As both teams attacked, Marsheider came up with some key saves.

Mistakes led to Davis’ scoring outburst for Pine Creek. 

A tripping call set up the first goal as Davis scored on a direct kick.

His second goal came after a defensive error late in the first half, and it gave the Eagles the lead they would never relinquish.

A penalty kick set up the final goal early in the second half. The Lancers attacked more after Pine Creek’s final goal, but it was too little, too late.

Spending most of the second half on Pine Creek’s side of the field, Liberty was unable to take advantage, despite several break-away plays by Brandon Herre.

Pine Creek coach Ben Corley said he was happy with the composure his team showed.

“It was a great game for Davis, and a good game for our goalkeeper,” Corley said. 

“We played really well today,” added Davis, who said good defense got his team the victory.

With the win, Pine Creek improves to 9-1-1, while Liberty falls to 7-3-1.