By Lori Brown
GRAHAMSVILLE — The Tri-Valley Lady Bears defeated the Liberty Indians, 4-1, on Thursday in a non-league soccer game.
Giving T-V (13-5) an early 1-0 lead was senior Miranda Benevides, who scored on an assist from Meghan Drown.
Just five minutes later, T-V’s Skylar Musa recorded an unassisted.
The first half goalkeeper for the Lady Bears, Bethany Huebsch, prevented Liberty from scoring until 30 minutes had elapsed. At that point, Liberty’s Georgia Siegel scored a goal on an assist from teammate Kim McKay to cut the Lady Bears’ lead in half at 2-1.
Five minutes into the second half, Karyn Sheeley scored unassisted to make it a 3-1 contest.
With 15 minutes left in the match, T-V’s Samantha Adriaans registered the final goal.
Later in the frame, T-V’s Meghan Drown kicked the ball into the Liberty goal net. But the goal was disallowed since the referee called off sides.
The Lady Bear goalkeeper for the second half, Ellen Williams was successful in preventing Liberty (5-12-1) from scoring any goals in those 40 minutes of competition.
Huebsch and Williams each recorded two saves on the afternoon. Lady Indian goalie Kelley Lockwood had 15 saves in the match.
“I did like our second half, we played much stronger and had good passes,” T-V Coach Mary Feusner said.
“We had chances and we took advantage of them,” she added.  “Today was the Parent Appreciation Game, and I was happy to be able to play every team member on the field today.”
Liberty Coach Ashlea Prouty said, “The girls played hard until the very end.”
“They are a great group of girls, and unfortunately we will be losing 10 girls next year,” she added.
Prouty especially noted senior Michelle Fancher, saying she has been great on and off the field. Fancher has been on the varsity team for three years and has been one of the team captains for the past two seasons.
The other Lady Indians seniors who played in their final match included: Brittany Argent, Caity Baker, Krysta Erlwein, Miranda Hardy, Brittany Melchick, Maggie Sauchuk, Amarynth Sichel, Georgia Siegel and Meghin Shortall.
Prouty and Assistant Coach Jenn Bull were both presented with flowers from their players after the contest, which was their last of the season.
During halftime, the Lady Bears showed their appreciation and honored their parents by presenting them with flowers.
Coach Feusner said to the parents, “Thank you for all of your support and assistance during the season.”
Because the match was T-V’s last home game the seniors were honored as well. Getting recognition were Miranda Benevides, Gretchen Hartman, Brittany Poley, Kayla Raimundo, and Kayla Scannell.
Notes: The victory was the 298th for Feusner in her lengthy coaching career.
The Lady Bears will begin the Section IX Class C tournament this afternoon.
T-V, which is seeded third in the tourney, will play at No. 2 Webutuck at 2 p.m. today in a semifinal match. The winner will then face top-seeded Tuxedo in the title game at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Hudson Valley Sports Dome in Milton.