ROME — NEB used three second half goals to down NP-Liberty, 4-1, during their senior night in NTL boys soccer action Wednesday.

It was 1-1 at the half when the Panthers made some adjustments to pull away as Dan Barrett finished with a hat trick.

"We were lackluster in getting to the ball, keeping control, and putting in challenges," said NEB coach Scott Merritt. "We were outplaying them but it wasn't getting us into the box enough, and then we were transitioning back to defensive plays too often. After our senior halftime festivities and mental adjustments discussed during halftime we started playing with more passion, and it kept building. We started winning balls, and settling control - building plays instead of kicking it away. Our team kept applying pressure more and more, their keeper did an amazing job through so much of this - on one attack alone he had four straight next level saves under serious smothering pressure. Then the dam broke."

Barrett scored the game's opener off a Wes Alderfer assist at the 6:07 mark of the first half, but NPL was able to knot things up behind a David Graf penalty kick with 4:50 to play.

In the second half all three gals within five minutes of each other, beginning with a direct kick from Brody Allen to Kennel Aguilar-Maldonado at 16:13.

A minute and a half later Dan scored off another assist from Alderfer, then with 11:38 to play Lucas Chapman hit Barrett for the final goal.

"Big night for Senior Dan Barret with a hat trick but the pressure and ball control applied by Anthony (Pousen), Wes (Alderfer), Brody (Allen), Kennel, Malachi (Taylor) and Lyric (Hillary) in the second half from the midfield with  hammer finishes coming from Dan Barrett and Papa Puza up top was excellent to see along with smothering defense led by Landon Knolles with Landon Chapman, Brayden Kovacs and a returning to play from injury Xavier Castro," said Merritt. "The challenges by the back four, especially in the second half, were excellent, decisive and strong tackles and challenges were put in neutralizing most threats in the middle third and applying it well back up the field to an attack they also did a great job of pressing up at times and supporting the attack on NPL's side of the middle third. ready for drops, swings, and redirects . 

NEB out shot NPL 22-7 with both teams getting six corner kicks each.

Chris Rought finished with six saves in goal.

"Big Chris continues to impress in goal playing strong, putting himself physically on the line and his kicks and punts are extremely impressive," remarked Merritt. "All this from a Freshman keeper is more than any coach could wish for. With season ending injury to senior Layton Vargo, Chris not only has stepped in and up but he has solidified himself as a NTL varsity keeper and he keeps learning and getting better and better with every practice and game. He has such an amazing upside that the sky is the limit for him and I'm almost giddy to see what he looks like over the next several years."

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