Patriots looking to make playoff splash

When Danny Musvoski entered his freshman season with the Liberty boys soccer team in 2010, he made little effort in hiding his motives.

“Freshman year, we just had an attitude that we were going to make a change at Liberty, because it was horrible before,” Musvoski said. “When I came here, we hadn’t won a game in six years.”

With the school less than a decade old, muddling through an extended stretch of miserable seasons had taken its toll on both the players and coaches. 

“I came in knowing Liberty’s history,” said second-year coach Mike Eshragh. “They said going 4-13 last season was a successful season for us. I said 'Thank you, but with our collection, it’s not what I expect.’ We came in this season a better team, but we’re just getting better.”

Guided by the game-changing abilities of Musvoski, now a junior, the Patriots (11-5, 7-3 Northeast) booked their first trip to the playoffs and are set to face Green Valley in the Division I Sunrise Region opener at 4 p.m. today at Heritage Park in Henderson.

The Sunset Region and Division I-A Southern Region tournaments also open today at Heritage Park. All three girls regionals begin Tuesday at Heritage Park, with all six finals set for Saturday.

Musvoski, who has scored 41 goals this season, the most in Southern Nevada, attributes the team’s turnaround to one unified goal. 

“Over the summer I was practicing on my own, because I knew I had to get better and that this program had to get better,” Musvoski said. “So I was just trying to do whatever I could, personally, to get better and it rubbed off on all my teammates.”

The forward, who had 26 goals during his sophomore season, has ignited Liberty’s attack into becoming one of the more feared offenses in the league, a component that Eshragh said has been critical to the team’s advancement into the playoffs.

“After last year, (opponents) knew who he was,” Eshragh said. “Coming into his junior year, teams came in with strategies to mark him different ways and double team him at certain times. We’ve had to work around that. Having him up there, we know we have a finisher. We know we have one of the best players in the state.”

The Patriots also have been driven by the play of senior goalkeeper Chris Bradford, who has registered eight shutouts. Eshragh said he believes that communication and execution on the defensive side of the ball will be paramount to Liberty’s plan of postseason success.

“On the field, there is no real weakness,” Bradford said. “Our defense has stepped it up tremendously this season. And then, of course, our attack.”

Given the role reversal this season, the Patriots aren’t surprised by the way things have progressed.

“Heart and desire goes a long way,” Eshragh said. “If you have that heart and desire, it’s an intangible that you can’t teach. You have to instill that into yourself. I think the mentality is expecting to win. That was a big aspect going into this year.”

Eshragh said he has stressed to the team that the playoffs aren’t the final stop and that the team must disregard their “underdog” label.

“We’re not going in there to just play a playoff game and say we had a good season,” Eshragh said. “We want to make a run at it. We’ve got to go in there and act like we belong there. If we play and act like we belong there, we will have success.”