Men’s soccer kicks off

With last-minute preparations nearly complete, the Liberty Flames men’s soccer team will kick off its season Friday, Aug. 29 against Bluefield College at home in the Osborne Stadium after nearly winning the Big South a year ago.

“We have to finish what we started,” Head Coach Jeff Alder said. “We weren’t consistent during the regular season last year. So that’s what our message has been each day — it’s consistently performing under pressure. Hopefully that will lead to more consistent results. We were just not good enough during the regular season.”

Alder also said he feels like last year’s team got healthy at the right time and put together a string of victories to get them to the finals, but came up just short of what they were trying to accomplish. The squad made it all the way to the Big South Conference title game after a 5-5 Big South season before conceding two second-half goals to lose 2-0 against top-ranked Coastal Carolina.

This year’s crew has many new freshmen and transfers who are ready to put in the work to build a bright future for the Flames. Fourth-year starting goalkeeper Scott Sutarik will be the lone senior to take the field.

“You’re always looking for anybody that’s new coming in just to make an impact right away both on the field and off the field with their attitude,” Sutarik said. “There are a bunch of new faces, and it’s good.”

As a veteran, he and the other leaders are looking for leadership to stem not only from upperclassmen, but from freshmen and newcomers as well. Experienced team leaders Sutarik and forward Sachem Wilson each expect to be in position to win the Big South this year.

Wilson and the rest of the team look forward to seeing how American interest in soccer after the World Cup affects the attendance at their games this season.

“The World Cup galvanized the country and it got a lot of people who were not normally soccer fans tuned in and became soccer fans,” Alder said.

With eighteen regular-season games ahead, Flames players and coaches said they are excited to build upon last year’s strong finish and become a consistent force all year long.

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