Moving on
Flames advance to semifinals
Liberty’s women’s soccer team defeated the Lady Eagles of Winthrop 2-0 Sunday, Nov. 1 at Osborne Stadium to advance to the semi-finals of the Big South Championship.
Concentration — Liberty senior midfielder Rebekah Page sends a pass downfield against Winthrop. Photo credit: Michela Diddle
Crystal Elmers notched her third goal of the year just five minutes into the second half to give the Lady Flames the advantage. Elmers received the ball from fellow senior Jaime Bouffard at the left corner of the box before she dribbled past two Winthrop defenders and buried the shot in the upper right of the goal.
“It felt really good once it finally got in there,” Elmers said. “I was relieved after that,” All seven of the team’s seniors (five of whom are starters) said the one-and-done format of the tournament added extra pressure, as each game could be their last.
“As a senior … I had never thought about a game so much as this one because it could potentially be the last game I ever play in women’s soccer,” Elmers said.
Later in the game, with just over 10 minutes to go, freshman midfielder Amanda Barrett put a shot into the back of the net to shatter Winthrop’s hope of a comeback. Sophomore forward Jennifer Knoebel crossed the ball to Barrett, who buried it into the left corner. The goal was the freshman’s first in her Liberty career.
The spurt of second half goals came after the Lady Flames failed to create any dangerous scoring chances in the first 45 minutes of play. Although Liberty controlled possession and probed around the offensive third with solid passing and footwork, the team never had any quality shots on goal.
“What we talked about (at halftime) was you can’t generate that kind of offense without the purpose of seeing the ball in the back of the net,” Head Coach Jessica Hain said. “So can every shot this second half end with a shot is basically what I challenged them.”
Elation — The Lady Flames have had plenty to celebrate thus far. Photo credit: Michela Diddle
The shutout was the team’s fourth in a row. The streak began Oct. 21 with a 3-0 win against the same Lady Eagles team that was defeated Sunday.
“The last four games … they’ve grown a lot in their maturity as the senior class has come through,” Hain said. “I think it’s really cool to see there’s a lot of maturity with their soccer IQ.”
The recent streak of shutouts has partially been due to the play of last year’s Big South Defender of the Year, Holly Van Noord. Although the redshirt junior goalkeeper has 107 saves this season and has let in an average of only 0.85 goals per game on the year, she refuses to take praise for the outstanding results of late.
“I credit my whole entire team,” Van Noord said. “Defense starts from the forwards to the mids, all the way back to me, so it’s definitely a team effort.”
Despite the encouraging result and dominating performance against Winthrop, the Lady Flames are not satisfied.
“We have to be better,” Van Noord said. “We have to put more effort out there.”
The team’s next test will be in the semi-finals against the same High Point team that took out the Lady Flames in the championship game last season in a penalty shootout.
After the teams finished 90 minutes of regulation tied 2-2 and went scoreless in two overtime periods, High Point won 5-4 in penalties. Bailey Beattie, a redshirt freshman at the time, scored the winning penalty with the teams tied 4-4.
She now has two goals and two assists this season as a redshirt sophomore.
High Point went on to lose to Virginia 8-0 in the first round of the Women’s College Cup.
“I think there’s significant motivation from the girls to play well,” Hain said. “This meeting will be especially emotional probably for both teams.”
The semifinal matchup with High Point is set for Friday Nov. 6 at 4 p.m. in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Keating is a sports reporter.